Light of Yuina
by KrisHalo99
Summary: On the island of Yuina, a group of students vanished without a trace and entered into the three, different eras of Duel Monsters. In New Domino City, the Signers and a third of the group meet. Making friends was easy for the Yuina group, but an unfortunate accident will make them close to their new companions. What accident was it, you ask? Let's just say it involves a potion..
1. Chapter 1 (05-14 20:43:36)

"What do you think, Lizzy?" Aaliyah asked her, looking at the sun setting sky from atop of a roof. The young girl with black hair and chocolate eyes glanced at her for a bit and then sighed, turning back to the sky.

"I don't know," she said. "It seems we are in quite a predicament."

"But you weren't here at first. You came here to find us! I'm still wondering why you would do that."

"I love you guys." Aaliyah giggled at her comment and said,

"Well we love you too but you didn't have to go to these type of great lengths to show that." Lizzy laughed and stared at the city across the bridge, which was known as New Domino City. Where they lived was in a far away district that was once known as Satellite, but now it was part of the city. The twosome and their friends, James, Keiza, William, Ryan, Ian, and Dylan, were somehow transported to this city from their island city called Yuina. They didn't know why they were taken away from their home but it just happened to be this way.

"I wonder sometimes if we will ever get back to our city sometimes," Lizzy said, looking down.

"Lizzy, we'll be fine!" Aaliyah grinned. "We've been here for five months now and we're able to live the way we want. When the time comes, we will return to Yuina." Lizzy smiled back at her and heard,

"Hey you two, it's time for food!"

"Coming, James!" Lizzy yelled. She jumped down the roof and ran inside, wanting to have food.

"LIZZY!" Aaliyah exclaimed loudly. "I can't get down the roof by myself!" Her friend immediately ran outside, her eyes widening because she forgot about Aaliyah.

"I'm so sorry, buddy!" Lizzy yelled, climbing back up the roof. She carefully got Aaliyah off of the roof and went inside of the house. The house that they lived in was a rather big one in size but eight people live in the house. They didn't mind it because they were pretty good friends already. Most of the teens that lived in the house were classmates so they got along well. Aaliyah and Lizzy got inside the house and saw Dylan and Ian in the living room. "Hey, guy!" Lizzy said, going to them. Dylan waved at the girls while Ian said,

"What's up?"

"Everything is great!" Aaliyah said.

"The view was fantastic!" Lizzy exclaimed happily. "I wish we guys could've seen it."

"Well not all of us can climb roofs so fast," Dylan said, a bit quiet. Lizzy giggled happily.

"Guys, there's food that needs to be eaten!" James said, yelling to them from the kitchen. The group ran over to the kitchen to eat food.

~Later~

"And then I tried to find the piece to put it in my runner but it wouldn't go through," William said. "So I tried to push it hard into the runner but it made the runner fall over. Yusei and Crow just stared at me and I was like 'What?'." The group laughed, sitting in the living room. They decided to tell stories about the day and were enjoying themselves.

"Hey, aren't they coming over to play games with us?" Keiza asked curiously. After she said that, the doorbell rang throughout the house.

"I guess that's them," James grinned. Aaliyah ran over to the door and opened and exclaimed,

"Hello!"

"Hey everyone!" Crow exclaimed, walking in the house. "How's it going?"

"Going good so far," William said. "No one broke anything and nothing exploded either." Crow laughed as Jack, Yusei, Akiza, Luna, and Leo walked in.

"And now it has become a party!" James yelled. "Yeah!"

"Which means we will lose our voices after gaming tonight!" Lizzy said. "Yay!"

"I thought that wasn't a good thing," Luna said.

"Sarcasm, yay!" Keiza yelled. The group only laughed as James and Dylan set up everything they needed.

"You sure you have everything?" Jack asked, sitting down on the couch.

"Yes!" William said. "But when all else fails, we'll wing it!" Jack sighed a bit, crossing his arms. Lizzy looked at the controllers and checked if the batteries were working until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and said,

"Oh hi, Yusei!"

"Hey," he said with a smile. He sat next to her and took a controller.

"You gonna play?" Lizzy asked with a chuckle.

"I'm gonna try but I probably won't make it."

"Great because you're gonna play a game that you have never played before!" Ryan exclaimed.

"T-That sounds great," Yusei said with a small smile.

"It's not gonna be as bad as Dungeons and Dragons," Dylan said.

"Oh no, we would all die!" James said.

"What game is that?" Akiza asked.

"You will learn soon, my friends!" Ryan announced. "Now let's just start the game."

"Let's do it!" Lizzy exclaimed. And so the group began to play the game, not expecting what will happen in the process.

 **This is my first story so please bear with me if there's a few errors. I really enjoy feedback and constructure criticism. But only constructive criticism, please!**


	2. Chapter 2

James opened his eyes, rubbing them lightly. He gazed at his surroundings and saw everyone else asleep, either on the couch, chairs in the room, or on the floor. James felt something on his shoulder and saw Keiza's head on his shoulder. He smiled and pecked her head filled with brown hair, sighing in content. He looked around for anyone that was awake and found Lizzy, yawning softly. "How'd you sleep?" James asked her, chuckling. Lizzy's eyes turned to him and said with a sleepy voice,

"I slept pretty good. You?"

"Same here. It seems like everyone fell asleep after that game." He sighed a bit and continued. "It's been five months since we've been home. I wonder how everyone has been."

"Yeah..." Lizzy said, looking at the ground. She began to think a bit about everything that has happened so far. A memory came into her mind...

 _"They're gone..." Lizzy said, tears in her eyes. "They're all gone...James, Ali, Will, Keiza, Summer, Xavier, my little Melody.." She fell to the ground and started sobbing uncontrollably. "It's all my fault!!"_

"Lizzy?!" She snapped out of her thoughts and turned to James, who raised his eyebrows at her.

"Sorry," she said, chuckling. "I was just thinking of all that has happened."

"I figured you were," James smiled. "I know you're thinking of home but you gotta remember the people around you." Lizzy blinked and then looked at Aaliyah, who had Luna and Leo sleep beside her. She found Jack and Crow sleeping on the couch by James and Keiza, and Akiza by Aaliyah and the twins. She finally turned to her side and found Yusei sleeping by her. She smiled a bit and said,

"Yeah, you're right. I can't forget about these guys. They'll always have a place right here." She placed her hand over the left side of her chest, smiling more. James did the same gesture and nodded. Lizzy thought for a moment and stood up slowly, not wanting to wake anyone else up. "I'm gonna go check something in the kitchen," Lizzy said to him. "I'll be back." James nodded again and Lizzy went out of the room. She stretched her arms slowly, letting her back and arms crack a tiny bit, and checked through the cupboards sleepily. The kitchen was light gray in color, matching the tiled floor and white cupboards. She yawned slowly and found a locked cupboard, the lock bulging a bit on the cupboard door handle. She chuckled to herself and thought, "I'm such an idiot. The cupboard I needed to find was locked." She sighed, remembering her mind was fuzzy due to just waking up. She then snapped her fingers fast and a silver key appeared on her other hand. She whistled softly and unlocked the lock with the key. She opened its creaky doors and surveyed the contents. Glass bottles lined up the cupboard in different sizes and colors, each bottle unique to the other. As a sorceress and a training alchemist, Lizzy had to keep an eye out for anyone that accidentally drinks from the bottles, which she called potions. If people started drinking the potions without knowing the contents, they could be in extreme danger of sickness. She felt that it was her duty to not let anyone near the potions, so she locked up the cupboard for good measure. She yawned sleepily and took one bottle out. She held the bottle with one had and tapped the glass forcefully with the other, making a vortex with the dark green liquid in the bottle. Her eyes began to get hazy and she shook her head, locking up the cupboard again and returning to the living room to get more sleep. The kitchen was once again a silent void, leaving the forgotten potion alone and out of the locked cupboard.


	3. Chapter 3

Morning finally came into view and one of the sleeping group woke up with a loud yawn. The orange haired boy stood up and walked to the kitchen, trying to avoid anyone else sleeping on the floor. He yawned again as he opened the fridge and squinted his eyes a tiny bit to see the contents.

"Crow, I don't think they'll like it if we looked through their fridge." Crow jolted a bit and turned to see Yusei and Jack.

"How long have you guys been up?" he said softly, not wanting to wake the people in the living room.

"Not too long," Jack replied. "But I think we should get going."

"Yeah, we need to get back to the warehouse," Yusei agreed.

"But I'm hungry!" Crow said. "Can't we eat a little bit before we go?"

"Like what?"

"Umm.." Crow glanced around the kitchen a bit and found a bottle of green liquid on the counter. "How about that bottle over there?" Yusei grabbed the bottle and examined it. There was no label on it so he couldn't figure out what it was.

"What is this?" he asked, still looking at it. "It doesn't have a description or anything on it else on it."

"Sounds interesting," Crow said, looking at the bottle too. "I bet it's a smoothie."

"Why would it be a smoothie?" Jack said. "The bottle is too small!"

"Well, there's only one way to find out!"

"...You're gonna taste it, aren't you?" Crow only responded with a smile as he looked thoroughly in the kitchen to find cups. Jack only sighed and glanced at Yusei, who was still trying to figure out the contents of the bottle.

"I have no idea what this is," Yusei sighed, sounding defeated.

"Then we have to taste it and find out," Crow announced, finding the cups.

"Are you sure about this?" Jack asked.

"Positive! Would these guys have anything that could poison us?" Jack and Yusei were silent for a minute. Crow did have a good point, their friends wouldn't have anything that could cause harm. So what could go wrong with just a taste from the bottle? Crow opened the bottle and filled three cups with the liquid inside. He handed two cups to his companions and stared at his cup. "Ready?"

"Let's see what happens," Jack said. Yusei only nodded.

"All right, here we go!" The three boys drank the liquid in the cup, not realizing that it was a potion they were drinking. After drinking their share, they immediately fell to the floor and passed out in an instant.

~Later that morning~

Dylan was the next person of the group to have woken up that morning. He glanced around at his friends that were still sleeping and sighed. He stretched his almost aching arms and grabbed the tv remote controller. He proceeded to turn on the tv and spin the volume meter on high. Music blasted from the tv stereo and everyone who wasn't awake instantly sat up, rushingly finding the culprit who woke them up. Dylan chuckled and turned down the volume to a relatively normal level and said,

"Good morning."

"Man, good morning to you too!" Ryan exclaimed, rubbing his eyes. "We're not kids that need to be awaken up, you know!"

"But we are," Luna and Leo said together. The two yawned while Akiza looked around the room. She began to scan the room a bit quicker and finally questioned,

"Where are the guys at?"

"We're right here," William said, raising his eyebrow.

"No, I mean where's Yusei, Jack, and Crow?"

"Oh...good question." Everyone scanned the room for any sign of them but didn't have any luck. James volunteered himself to go to the kitchen and see if they were there and stood to his feet. He slowly walked to the other room, evidently still sleepy, and stepped into the kitchen. His face altered into sheer shock and perhaps a bit of horror too. He quickly went back to the living room and said,

"Guys...um...well, you should probably go to the kitchen. There's something that we all need to see."

"Oh dear, what happened?" Ian said, hoping that it isn't too bad. James didn't say anything but motioned the entire group to come with him. Not knowing what to expect, the group hurriedly went to the kitchen. As soon as they got there, James showed the group three young boys who look strikingly similar to Jack, Yusei, and Crow. Some of the group gasped while the others had their eyes shot open.

"How did this happen?!" Aaliyah said in shock.

"That's what I've been trying to find out," James sighed. "But I found nothing that will help explain it."

"What's this?" Leo said, holding up an empty bottle. Lizzy looked at it and realized that it was one of her potion bottles. She quickly glanced at the locked cupboard and saw no signs of anyone breaking the lock. She began to think for a few seconds and then exclaimed,

"Oh no!"

"What?" everyone else said.

"I accidentally left one of my potions out of the cupboard! They must've drank it."

"Potions?" Luna repeated. "Like the ones for alchemy and magic."

"Yup," William sighed. "And now we are witnessing the effects of when someone drinks it."

"At least they didn't get sick from drinking it," Ian noted. "But we should turn them back soon." The group nodded and turned to Lizzy, who looked at everyone in a sort of panic.

"J-Just because I made the potion doesn't mean I can just create an antidote on the spot!" she exclaimed frantically.

"But you can make one, right?" Akiza asked her.

"Hmm," Lizzy said, pondering. "Most of the potions I make have an effect that makes anyone who drank the concoction turn back to normal. But I can make an antidote just in case that doesn't work."

"How long would that take?" Ryan asked.

"U-Um...I'd have to find ingredients so it may take a while. Potions can't be made in a hurry it takes-"

"There's not time for waiting! We have to do this now."

"Ryan, I've seen Lizzy make the potions and it doesn't take just a day to do it!" Keiza scolded.

"You can't take things in a rush okay?" Ryan merely groaned and walked back to the living room, leaving everyone else to sigh.

"Ryan seems to be quite impatient today," Akiza said. "Maybe it's because he woke up a bit early."

"Or because I need to fix this as fast as possible," Lizzy said. 'But he has a point: I have to get the antidote running so that we can get the three back."

"Just because you made the potions, doesn't mean that it's your fault," Aaliyah commented. She knew how Lizzy would feel after getting into a situation, especially if she was involved. Lizzy sighed sadly and whispered,

"I wish it was like that.."

"Don't get upset!" Leo grinned with confidence. "You can fix this and they'll be back to normal."

Akiza agreed with a smile and so did Luna. Before Lizzy could say anything to thank them, little Crow began to wake up. He opened his eyes and sat up, letting out a kid-like yawn. He glanced around a bit and said,

"Hello!" The group turned to the little boy, kind of shocked that he woke up while they were still around.

"Hi there," Aaliyah said with a smile. "It's great that you woke up!"

"Where am I?" little Crow asked. "And who are you?" Aaliyah turned to the others, not knowing what to say to him.

"This could take a while," Lizzy whispered softly so that the boy wouldn't hear. The others nodded in agreement.


	4. Chapter 4

Two Days Later...

"This is a bad idea," Ian noted, tapping the staircase railing at the bottom of the staircase. "Are you sure that they won't get hurt?"

"Positive!" William said with a happy grin. "I did this when I was a kid and nothing bad happened. Besides, it'll be fun!" He quickly went up the stairs and ran to a room. "You ready, guys?"

"Ready!" three voices exclaimed.

"Then come on out." Suddenly, a bed mattress came out into the same hallway where William was and the three kids, Jack, Crow, and Yusei, tried to pick it up. William chuckled a bit and helped them out, bringing the mattress over to the stairs. The group dropped it just before the mattress would let itself fall down the staircase. While this was happening, James and Keiza walked over to the bottom of the stairs.

"What's going on?" James asked Ian, somewhat curious.

"Look up the stairs and find out," Ian said. James and Keiza looked and the latter's eyes widened in distress.

"William Gray, what are you doing?!" Keiza exclaimed. "Are you trying to get them killed?"

"They won't die," William said, sighing a bit. "At worst, they'll get a few scraps."

"A FEW?!"

"We'll be okay," little Yusei said with a smile.

"The only one that could get hurt is Crow because he's in the front," little Jack said.

"Why do I have to be in the front?" little Crow whined.

"You wanted to be in the front!"

"That's because Yus didn't want to!"

"Okay you two, let's not fight," William advised them. "Let's just have some fun, okay?" The three nodded and sat down on the mattress with little Crow in the front, little Yusei in the middle, and little Jack in the back. William grabbed the mattress part that was behind Jack and said,

"Hang on tight, you three!" He then pushed the mattress so that it can fall down the stairs. The three hung on to the mattress fabric and laughed, going down the staircase and bumping onto each stair step. The three at the bottom of the steps got out of the way as the mattress made its grand entrance with three passengers on board. Keiza rolled her eyes playfully as William ran down the stairs and asked, "So how was the ride?"

"It was awesome!" little Crow yelled. "Can we do that again?"

"Not now," James spoke. "It's time for lunch."

"Is it ramen?" Jack asked quickly.

"No, it's not, little man. But I know it's something really good because Lizzy made it. So let's go eat!" The three small boys nodded and ran off to where the food was.

"Must you do something reckless all the time?" Keiza asked William after they left.

"Aw come on!" he said, patting her head. "As long as no one gets hurt, everything is okay. We have lots of fun and need to have those moments." She gave William a funny look but then laughed a bit, agreeing with him. In the past few days, the group had to adjust with Crow, Yusei, and Jack being kids but they managed as much as possible. The three slept in a bedroom upstairs where some of the other boys were staying because they shouldn't be left alone at the warehouse, the place where they were living. The gang also cautioned themselves on how to take care of the three boys. They were anxious about space-time continuum, which could disrupt the future as they knew it, and took it upon themselves to limit what the boys should and should not know. However, there have been no problems so far and the kids were really happy living in the house with the group. But the team kept wondering how long the potion will last and if they could ever find an antidote...

"I'm hungry," James said, his stomach grumbling. "I'm gonna go and eat."

"Me too," Keiza agreed. William nodded as well and they went to the kitchen. They couldn't find anyone in the kitchen but heard commotion next door, a good sized dining room to fit a lot of people. There the threesome found their friends eating and talking, sitting around the table.

"You started eating without us?" William told them.

"You guys were taking too long!" Ryan answered. "And the little guys were hungry."

"Oh okay. What's on the menu today?"

"Teriyaki chicken and rice!" Lizzy announced proudly.

"Yes!" James screamed. Everyone else stared at him because of his exclamation, and he blushed in embarrassment, quickly sitting down on a chair near a plate of food.

"There is no need for shame when it comes to food, buddy," Dylan chuckled. "We've all had the same experience."

"Yeah!" Lizzy agreed with a smile. "While I was cooking this, my stomach was growling a lot. So you're not alone." James smiled back at her and began to eat, leaving Keiza and William to join in. The entire group relaxed as they ate, not knowing what to do next after the meal. The little boys finished their food earlier than the rest of the gang and tried to wait patiently for them to finish. The one that finished first was Aaliyah, and the kids almost begged her to play with them. She laughed quite a bit and agreed to play, letting the boys smile and run out of the room to find something to play with.

"Sorry Lizzy, I guess I can't help you with the dishes," Aaliyah said sadly. Lizzy shrugged it off and said,

"Don't worry about it. You go have fun." Aaliyah nodded and went off to find the kids.

"You want any help since Ali can't do it?" Keiza asked Lizzy. She was already grabbing the dishes from the table to help out.

"Okay!" Lizzy exclaimed with a sweet smile. "I'm always happy for some help."

"I'll help too," Dylan said.

"I'll go make sure that Ali doesn't do something crazy," William announced, getting up from his seat. He walked out, and Ian and Ryan followed him.

"James, did you get the mail yet?" Keiza asked curiously. James didn't say anything for a few seconds and went out of the room silently.

"He forgot," Dylan concluded, going to the kitchen with some dishes.

"Oh James," Keiza said with a slight giggle. "He always forgets the mail."

"Yup!" Lizzy exclaimed. The three started cleaning while the others did their own tasks.


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm gonna beat you!" Lizzy exclaimed, moving her game controller around while smashing buttons.

"No, you're not!" Ryan yelled, pressing buttons on his controller as fast as he could. The two were playing a racing game on the TV, while Ian and William spectated the match. The two competitors were fighting hard to beat each other, but in the end Lizzy came to the finish line before Ryan. "Dang it!" he shouted, almost throwing his game controller to the ground out of frustration. "Why do I always lose to you?"

"Because you lose focus at the last part of the race," Lizzy answered bluntly. "Especially when you're not in first."

"Wouldn't anyone do that?" Ryan questioned with a little pout.

"Yes but not as much as you," Ian pointed out. The boy with the controller groaned, placing it hard on the table. Lizzy chuckled quite a bit and looked around the room, noticing something was a bit off.

"Where's Crow, Jack, and Yusei?" the girl asked, still looking around.

"I don't know," William said. "Weren't they watching you two play?"

"Yeah...but I don't see them now."

"So where are they?"

Little Jack tried to climb up to the kitchen counter but failed, pouting a bit. "I can't reach it!" he exclaimed.

"Try again, try again!" little Crow said.

"Why don't we climb using each other?" little Yusei suggested. The other two looked at each other and nodded. Little Jack was able to get the two up on the counter after almost scraping his shoulder because of their feet and panted a bit. "Crow, climb on my shoulders so that you can get the thing!"

"Ok!" little Crow chirped. He roughly got on little Yusei's shoulders, making himself as tall as the fridge right next to them. He tried to reach out his small arms to reach what they wanted but failed. "Yusei, get closer!"

"I'm trying!" little Yusei said, getting closer to the refrigerator. Little Crow kept reaching but with no success. Meanwhile, Lizzy walked over to the kitchen to find the kids and her eyes widened quite a bit, seeing what they're trying to do. She didn't know whether to be angry with them or be impressed that they thought of this. However, she wanted to find out what they were doing in order for them not to get hurt and she thought it would be funny to see their reaction of her in the room. Trying to act a bit mad, she put her hands on her hips and entered the kitchen.

"Now what are you three doing?" she asked, a bit stern. Little Jack and Yusei stopped in an instant and turned to her, very surprised. However, little Crow looked at Lizzy with a happy smile and announced,

"We're going to have some ramen!" The other two boys glanced at him quickly, mad that he told her. Lizzy didn't say anything for a moment but then laughed.

"Ramen?" she repeated. "Is that why you wanted the water boiler?" The boys nodded sheepishly. "Okay, I'll get it for you."

"Yay!" they yelled. Lizzy helped the two on the counter down and got the boiler.

"Goodness, you three get hungry fast," Lizzy noted, getting the machine ready. "What were you doing?"

"We were chasing James around the house," little Yusei said. "It was fun!"

"Aww, why would you chase him?"

"Because I was pretending to be a big monster," James explained, walking into the scene. "But they figured out my weakness..."

"He laughs whenever we poke his tummy," little Crow giggled. Lizzy bursted out laughing and James shook his head, sighing. The three kids decided to laugh too, even though they had no idea why she was laughing.

"So what will we do after eating?" Lizzy asked the group.

"Let's play Duel Monsters!" little Jack said with a smile.

"Yeah!" little Crow agreed. "Let's all play."

"I don't know, guys," Lizzy admitted. "I may be busy after I make the ramen."

"Play with us, Lizzy!" little Yusei begged. "Pleeeaaaasseee?" James started to encourage her to play while the kids begged for her to play. Lizzy smiled warmly and said,

"Okay, okay, I'll play." The three kids cheered happily, making Lizzy smile more. "But after ramen, okay?"

"Okay," the three said in unison.

~Later~

Loud knocking came from the front door, causing everyone in the house to stop what they're doing. "I'll get it!" Keiza exclaimed, running to the door. This made everyone else return to what they were doing, letting their friend handle whoever was the guest. The girl opened the door to find Akiza, Leo, and Luna on the other side. "Hey Aki, Luna, and Leo!"

"Hello!" Luna and Leo said. Akiza smiled and asked,

"How is everyone?"

"We're doing good," Keiza answered. "Nothing too extreme has happened yet. Come in!" She stepped aside to let the three guests step into the house. Leo and Luna decided to go off and find everyone while Akiza stayed with Keiza.

"Have you gone to the warehouse yet?" Akiza questioned her, fixing her short red hair a bit.

"James and William have," Keiza responded. "The runners were still there so they guessed no one has broken in."

"That's good. Whenever the potion wears off, we don't want them to be mad..speaking of which, has Lizzy been working on an antidote?" The brown haired girl sighed and explained,

"She's been trying to make one ever since the boys drank the potion. She would stay up late at night, mixing some ingredients together precisely to make a good enough elixir. However, it hasn't been working and she can't understand why. Now she's exhausted but she won't let anyone else know that."

"How do you know that she's that tired?"

"I'll show you." Keiza led Aki over to the room where Lizzy was, and where a few other people were at. "Can you see the bags under her eyes?" she whispered to her friend. Akiza squinted her eyes a bit to get a close look at Lizzy and could barely see them under her light chestnut eyes.

"Yes," she answered quietly, nodding.

"Lizzy doesn't like it when people worry about her, so she always hides with a smile on her face. But I'm beginning to worry quite a bit."

"Yeah..poor thing. She must think it's all her fault for letting this happen." What those two didn't realize was that one of the kids was looking at them and then glancing at who they were staring at. He had no idea why this was happening but began to feel a tiny bit worried.

 **All right, this chapter is done! Hope you enjoyed it! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

"All right, kiddos!" James announced to the kids. "It's time for sleep."

"Do we have to?" little Crow asked, rubbing his eyes a bit. "I want to stay up with you guys."

"But if you don't," Keiza began, "you won't grow strong when you grow up. Don't you want to be strong?"

"I do but why don't you go to sleep when we do?"

"We have to do more adult things," William explained to the boy. "Sometimes it involves us staying up a bit later than you. But honestly, I'm gonna sleep early tonight."

"Same!" Ryan exclaimed, yawning. "So let's go upstairs and get sleep." Everyone agreed and began to walk up the stair steps slowly, except for Lizzy. She stayed downstairs and looked up at her friends happily. She heard one of the kids say,

"Can you tell us a bedtime story?"

"Sure!" William said from afar. "I'll tell you the story of what happened to Ryan on a carousel."

"Don't tell that story!" Ryan yelled loudly. Lizzy giggled and went off into the kitchen, taking a deep breath and rolling up her jacket sleeves.

"Let's see if I can get it right tonight," she told herself. She opened up the locked cupboard and got some bottles with liquid from the bottom part of the cabinet. She locked it up again and prepared a bowl that was on the counter and mixed liquids from two bottles in the bowl, whistling a melody that she knew. All though she was whistling, she contemplated on how she can turn Crow, Yusei, and Jack back to normal soon. She also wanted to keep them as kids until the potion wears off. The kids were sticking to her friends closely and her friends were enjoying their company and having fun. As she thought hard on what to do, she heard,

"What are you doing?" Her eyes shot open and she turned to the voice, who was little Crow wrapped in a big blanket.

"Oh I'm working, little man," she responded with a smile, still stirring the liquid in the bowl with a mixer.

"Working on what?"

"Well, it's hard to explain...but it has to do with magic."

"Magic?" Lizzy nodded at him and his dark gray eyes sparkled a bit, thinking it was cool. Keiza ran into the room and sighed in relief, seeing little Crow in the room.

"Hey, it's time for bed," Keiza said.

"Ok..." the boy sighed, walking to her. Keiza then turned to Lizzy and said the same thing.

"I'll be in bed soon," Lizzy responded with a small smile. "Just give me thirty minutes." Her friend nodded and took little Crow upstairs. She began to think of how guilty Lizzy must be feeling...

 _"Are you sure you're okay?" 10-year-old Lizzy asked._

 _"Yes, I'm fine!" 10-year-old William exclaimed, getting a bit annoyed. "This is the third time you asked." Keiza, who was about the same age, wrapped up William's hurt arm with a bandage and said,_

 _"Why do you keep saying sorry, Liz? Will already forgave you."_

 _"I still feel horrible," Lizzy admitted. "I don't know why but my chest would hurt a lot sometimes. Is that normal?" William shrugged and said,_

 _"All I know is this: it wasn't your fault that you fell on my arm during practice. Let's just leave it at that, okay?" Lizzy nodded but Keiza looked at her, noticing that she was still a bit tense._

That memory stuck with Keiza as she fell asleep in the shared room with Aaliyah, knowing that Lizzy won't be done for a long , Lizzy groaned in frustration as her liquid creation wasn't working the way she wanted it too. "Why isn't it turning red?!" she thought. "I did everything I could but why isn't it working?!" She laid her head on the counter and groaned loudly. She sighed and lifted her head, only to see little Yusei staring at her. "H-Hey buddy!" she said, astonished. "How long have you been watching me?"

"Only a little while," little Yusei said quietly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm working on something important."

"Important?"

"Yup. Wanna see?" The little boy nodded and Lizzy picked him up to let him see the bowl with liquid in it. "I'm making a potion that can do a lot of things."

"Do you do this all the time?" the boy asked curiously, staring at the contents of the bowl.

"Sometimes," Lizzy smiled. "But I've been focusing hard this time."

"Why?"

"Well, let's say that I accidentally messed up on something and I need to fix it."

"Is that why you've been staying up late?" Lizzy was surprised that he knew about that but then sighed, knowing that she couldn't keep the secret anymore. She merely nodded, staring at the bowl. Little Yusei looked at her and said, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay," Lizzy answered. "I just have an unfortunate tendency to feel guilty for things I am a part of."

"But it wasn't your fault that it happened!"

"I know, kiddo. But it comes around once in awhile." Lizzy began to stir the contents of the bowl again with one hand while holding little Yusei with her other. She didn't know if he could understand the type of guilt she felt since he was only a boy. She also didn't want to bring the topic back up again, so she decided to stay silent. After a few moments, she felt something squeezing her shoulders and chest. She looked at little Yusei and saw that he was hugging her tightly. Her eyes widened and he said,

"If I drank one of your potions by accident, I wouldn't blame you.." At his response, she shed one tear and chuckled,

"Thank you, little man. Now shouldn't you go to sleep?"

"Tell me what the potions are made of first!"

"Oh no, you don't! Your brothers are already in bed and you should be too."

"Tell me, please! I promise to go to bed after."

"...oh okay. But you have to keep your promise." The boy nodded happily and Lizzy began to explain to him that she was a magician, an actual magician that works with potions and magic. She kept her explanation as simple as possible so that he could understand and he listened attentively. He seemed enchanted by the fact that she can wield magic and Lizzy found that interesting, considering that she knew his grown-up self. Little Yusei looked at one of the potion bottles, which looked almost empty and asked,

"What potion is that?"

"Oh that's called the Light of Yuina," Lizzy explained with a smile. "It was made where my friends and I are from, Yuina "

"What about Light?"

"I read a book once that it was called Light of Yuina because of a powerful magician's ability to change fate with her tears. With one drop it can cure anything from its current state, no matter how deep the scar or spell could be. But it takes time and nurturing to let its power work, and a brave magician that is willing to discover its mysterious ability."

"Nurturing?"

"Yeah! Like...love! It needs a lot of love and care for it to thrive. All I can hope for is that its magic can work within me one day." Little Yusei smiled in awe but then yawned, saying,

"I'm sleepy."

"Okay," Lizzy chuckled. "Let's head to bed." She put everything away and placed the potions inside of the locked cupboard. "That cupboard is the place where I keep all my potions. You can't grab anything from it, okay Yusei?" The boy nodded with a smile and Lizzy rubbed his head, grinning. He laughed as the two left the room and climbed upstairs.

"Hey, don't wake everyone up," Aaliyah murmured. She was waiting for the two at the top of the stairs. "I'll get him to bed, Lizzy." Lizzy nodded in agreement and set Yusei on his feet.

"Good night, buddy," she said.

"Good night, Lizzy," he smiled. He followed Aaliyah to his room as Lizzy went into her room, content that even though she didn't find the antidote she was able to make someone and herself smile.


	7. Chapter 7

"Okay everyone," James announced. "Today we are going to the mall. We must be focused on getting the things that we need and not be distracted by ANYTHING that we see. If we do, we are screwed and may spend all of our money...which honestly isn't that much."

"But we did get an awesome deal on the house," Ian noted.

"That's true. Anyway, we focus on the mission and that is all that we will do. Any questions?"

The rest of the group stared at James plainly as little Crow raised his hand. "What is it, little buddy?" James asked him.

"Are we gonna stop by a shop to get some Duel Monsters cards?" the boy asked.

"Of course, that's part of the mission! Now let's head out."

"All right!" everyone cheered.

"Why are malls so big?" little Jack asked when he and the group entered the enormous building. The mall was definitely big in size, with stores roaming throughout the inside and outside parts of the building. People zoomed in and out of different stores, chattering among themselves.

"I think it's because people try to sell a lot of stuff," Ryan said. "So they put it all together to create a place called a mall."

"I don't think that's how a mall works," Dylan pointed out. "It's probably because big name companies want to sell things in a particular area."

"Oh...well, that too!"

"Now we have an issue," Lizzy said to the others. "Should we split up or walk around together?"

"I think walking together is a good idea so that no one gets lost," William said. "But that's just me. What do you guys think?"

"I think that'll work," James said. "We're gonna go to similar places anyway. So let's move out!" The group agreed and began to walk, trying to keep the kids beside them as they went. The reason why was because little Crow and Yusei would dash off to see the store windows while little Jack tried to get them from causing any trouble, which the rest of the group did as well. As the group walked, they ran into a familiar face in the mall. The three boys ran up to her, happy to see a friend.

"Yo, Akiza!" Lizzy exclaimed with a smile, walking to her.

"Hello, Lizzy!" she smiled. "And hello everyone!"

"What are you doing here today?" little Yusei questioned.

"I'm just here to buy a few things," Akiza answered. "I see that you're getting some stuff as well."

"Yup!"

"It's mostly things that we need around the house," Ryan added. "And also for these guys!" As he said this, he ruffled the kids' heads. Little Jack was the only one to complain with an embarrassed blush, the other two laughed happily.

"I'm glad that you're having fun so far," Akiza smiled.

"Hey, you can join us," Keiza commented. "We're just gonna go to a few stores and probably eat lunch."

"Yeah!" James agreed. "The more people we have, the merrier we will be."

"You sure that I can join?" Akiza said.

"Of course!"

"Well then, okay! I'll join you!"

"Yay!" Aaliyah exclaimed. "Now we can look for a clothing store together!"

"Because we have no idea where we are going!" William mentioned with a bit of sarcasm. "All right!"

"Do you need help getting there?" Akiza asked, laughing a bit.

"Yes please!"

~Later~

"What do we do?" Lizzy asked Ryan, waiting for some of their friends to be done in the fitting room. After walking around in a store, some of the group decided to try on clothes.

"I have no idea," he responded. "But let them take their time. They have a good sense of fashion."

"And we don't?"

"I honestly don't."

"I don't either!" little Crow exclaimed, sitting on the ground beside them. The two laughed at his comment and kept waiting for anyone to come out of the fitting room. Finally, Aaliyah came out and said,

"Lizzy, come over here!"

"Oh dear, I've been summoned," Lizzy sighed, looking at her two companions. "I'll see you in a bit." As she went into the girl's fitting room, James and little Jack came out of the guy's fitting room.

"Hey, how did it go?" Ryan said to James, who put a few clothes in a gray shopping cart.

"It went pretty good," James answered. "Most of the clothes fit so that's a good day."

"Sweet!" The two kept talking about miscellaneous things about the store for a while. Soon their kid friends started to get bored, really bored.

"What should we do?" little Crow asked. His brother shrugged and merely stared at the ground, not figuring out what to do. "I have an idea! Let's go over to the toy section in the store."

"But shouldn't we stay near the others?" little Jack mentioned.

"I want to see what's there. Besides, they won't know that we're gone. It'll only be for a few minutes."

"I don't know..."

"Well you don't have to come with me. I'll just go by myself." The boy then ran off to find what he was looking for.

"Crow, wait!" little Jack said, running after him. Unfortunately, James and Ryan didn't pay attention that the two kids left and kept talking for quite a while. A lot of minutes pass and the group gather near the fitting room where James and Ryan are at. They talk for a little while about what they found until little Yusei asked,

"Where are my brothers at?"

"That's a good question, buddy," Lizzy noted, looking around the area. The group began to do the same and discovered that the two kids weren't nearby.

"I thought you were watching them!" Aaliyah said to James and Ryan. "You were supposed to look after them."

"We were!" James answered. "But Ryan distracted me."

"What are you talking about?!" Ryan exclaimed. "You were distracting me!"

"You were distracting each other, knuckleheads!" Aaliyah yelled. The three began to argue rapidly as Ian tried to calm the three down. Lizzy face palmed and said,

"This is getting us nowhere...let's go while they're arguing." She felt a light tug on her jacket and looked down little Yusei, who covered his ears because of all the yelling. He looked like he was really worried for his brothers and wanted to help the group find them. She smiled and motioned him and everyone else to get out of the area. They soon went to find the two kids as the others were trying to get James, Ryan, and Aaliyah calm.


	8. Chapter 8

The big group, Lizzy, Keiza, Dylan, William, Akiza, and little Yusei, rushed through most of the store to search for the other two kids. But they were unsuccessful with their search.

"Oh no, where could they be?" William said, getting very concerned. "They shouldn't have gotten far.."

"Yusei, do you know where they could've gone?" Akiza asked him.

"Um..." the boy responded, thinking. "Crow likes to play with a lot of things..."

"To the toy section!" Lizzy exclaimed proudly, pointing in front of her. The rest of the group wondered why she would do such a thing until they heard little Yusei laugh. Lizzy glanced at the group's funny looks and said, "What? I'm like an entertainer. It makes things more funny and interesting."

"Focus, Lizzy!" Keiza said. "We have to find them."

"Right, my bad! Let's go!" The group hurried over to the little toy section in the store in search the two aisles it consisted of. It wasn't until William, who was scanning hurriedly, heard a sniffling noise that caused all of his motion to stop. He listened closely and followed the hushed sound, approaching a stack of disorganized toys at the end of one of the aisles. He approached the toys and slowly took out one of the toys, revealing a small head with red hair.

"Crow?" William said softly. The toys around the head shook and little Crow stared up to the voice he heard. The boy immediately hugged William, not caring about the toys he knocked over, and began to cry. "What's wrong, buddy? Where's Jack at?"

"H-He's gone..." little Crow hiccuped, still crying.

"What do you mean he's gone?"

"I-I was running to the toy section and Jack was right behind me. But when I got here, h-he was gone. So I got scared and hid here..."

"Oh I see. Well, have no fear because we have come to save the day!" William picked up little Crow and put him on his shoulders. "Let's go find Jack with the others, okay?" The boy nodded and the two hurried to the others.

"Oh thank goodness, you found one!" Keiza exclaimed, sighing in relief.

"Yeah but I can't find Jack," William noted. "Did you guys see him around the store?"

"No," Akiza answered. "He would've stayed with Crow or Yusei.."

"Oh dear," Lizzy said, beginning to think more. Little Yusei began to look around the store as the others began to think and noticed a man in dark clothes at the outside door of the store. He started to walk towards the man, staring at him with his curious blue eyes. The mysterious man noticed the little boy coming towards him and he began to walk out of the store. Little Yusei kept walking to the man and realized a small blue jacket was hanging off of the man's arms.

"Jack?" the boy called out. The man stopped his movements and turned his head to the boy, his facial features stern and placid. He then smirked, giving the man a new yet sinister look, and ran out of the store quickly. Little Yusei gasped and dashed after the man, even though he wasn't that fast to catch him. "Jack!" The man began to run faster until there was no way that the boy could ever keep up. Luckily, the rest of the group noticed that little Yusei ran outside and followed him, finding the man. Lizzy and William ran past the boy and speedily went towards the kidnapper.

"Stop!" Lizzy yelled, almost as if it was a command. The kidnapper stopped immediately and turned around and growled at her. He was holding little Jack, who was unconscious, tight in his arms. The others caught up and watched the scene.

"Let him go!" William exclaimed. "You have no right to take that kid."

"...Is that so?" the stranger said. "I'll have you know that I'm a magician fit to take this boy by force."

"A magician?!" Lizzy gasped. "Why would you want a harmless boy like him?"

"I have been watching the events of this city since the day the Crimson Dragon decided to make an appearance. I have seen what this boy and your little friend can do and I will make sure that it does not happen!"

"How can you do that if they have already affected the present?" Ryan asked, furious that he had little Jack.

"If I can take away their past, the present and future can be rewritten!" Lizzy's eyes widened, remembering the space-continuum problem that her friends have been trying to protect from happening. She felt her jacket pulled tightly again and she assumed that it was little Yusei again. She put her hand on his head and said,

"We won't let you change time! Our future depends on the people we have met and we won't let you hurt them!"

"Heh," the stranger said. "Very resilient you people are. However, I will still continue with my plans! And I will start with this boy!" He graced evilly at little Jack and began to use sinister, shadow magic on him. The boy groaned loudly as a tiny bit of blood came from his mouth. The mysterious man began to laugh maniacally and Lizzy cried,

"Enough of this! If you want to hurt these boys, then you'll have to go through us!"

"I agree!" James said, cracking his knuckles. "Bring it on!"

"Fair enough," the mystery man sighed. "If you can defeat me through magic or this game you call Duel Monsters, I will let this boy go. But if not, you will all perish under the magic of the Shadow Realm!" Lizzy gritted her teeth and clutched her fists as the mysterious man's hands filled itself with a dark blue aura. The aura placed little Jack on the ground and created a force field around the boy. "Now let's see if you are capable of taking on me!"

"Lizzy, you should go," William suggested to her. "You're more than capable of doing this." Lizzy nodded but felt a stronger tug on her clothes.

"Don't go..." little Yusei said softly. "I don't want to lose more friends."

"I'll be okay, buddy," Lizzy smiled. "No matter what happens, everything will be okay. Now stay with the others." The boy nodded and ran over to Keiza and Aaliyah.

"Will she be okay?" he asked them, still worried.

"Positive!" Aaliyah grinned. "She can handle this with no problems at all." She watched Lizzy, who was taking calm and deep breaths to tap into her magic ability. The evil man laughed and exclaimed,

"Is that the best you have to offer? I'll be done with you in just a few seconds!" His hands burned with dark magic, not failing to show his power.

"I must do this!" Lizzy thought. "I must be strong because it's my duty to summon my power at any cost. I will prove him wrong!" Her hands began to glow dimly, showing a yellow hue on her fingertips. She waited a little bit in order for her hands to glow brighter, but it wasn't working like she thought it would. Her hands glowed only a tiny bit more, barely noticeable to any spectator. She glared at the man to look more intimidating and thought, "My power will come when the time is right in this battle. I must succeed."

"Now watch as a true master of magic takes the stage!" the man cackled. He pulled his arms forward at Lizzy and his magic spiraled out of his hands, hurling fast at the girl. The entire group, including Lizzy, was shocked that he powered up the magic he possessed so quickly. The girl facing him gritted her teeth and stood her ground, clasping her hands together to block the attack. The result was a big explosion, leaving no one except Lizzy and the evil man to know the consequence of the attack. As soon as the dust from the attack fell to the ground completely, the group gasped loudly. The evil man was still standing on his feet, laughing to his heart's content. But his opponent was down with her back to the ground, taking a huge hit to her chest as black magic circled it.


	9. Chapter 9

"No way," Keiza said, putting her hands on her mouth. "That's never happened to Lizzy before. She's a powerful magician."

"It seems like she wasn't as great as I thought," the mystery man said. "I figured I was facing a challenge..oh well! I'll keep the boy and take out the other two!" The two kids hid behind the others in tears.

"She's gone, isn't she?" little Crow said, crying. Little Yusei didn't say anything because he was crying too much to talk. At the sight of seeing one of his closest friends down, William yelled,

"THAT'S IT! I had enough of your bad talk. You took Jack, hurt our friend, and made these kids sad! If you want Jack, Crow, and Yusei so badly, how about we settle this in a duel?"

"You're one to talk," the man scoffed. "But I accept your offer. If I can defeat a magician and a duelist, then no one will stop me!" He put his hand on his left arm and the dark blue hue was seen again, except it took the shape of a Duel Disk and a click! sound rang to indicate it's appearance. William got out his aqua blue disk from a backpack he carried and set it up as fast as he could.

"I'm not the guy that usually says this," Ryan began, "but maybe this is a bad idea..."

"He's right, and I don't say that too often," James mentioned. "We're not losing another friend today!"

"I know that," William said. "But Lizzy would've done the same thing if I did what she just did. And you guys would too! I have to fight...for all of us!" As soon as he said that, a hue that was strikingly similar to the color of his disk ran throughout it, glowing brightly. James' eyes widened at the sight but then understood what William wanted to do.

"Okay, Will. You go for it! Take him down!"

"Go, Will!" Aaliyah cheered.

"We'll be here for support," Dylan smiled. "So go do it!" William nodded and walked a bit closer to the man.

"This will be your ultimate demise!" the man shouted. As soon as they both said duel, they went head-to-head with each other. William was a Beast and Beast Warrior deck user while the man used a combination of Light and Dark monsters in summoning them from the Graveyard or tributing a monster to get another powerful monster in the field. The two were both using any tricks up their sleeves, but that ended when the evil man drew a card and grinned manically. William wondered why since the man had so many cards in his hand and had 1300 life points, while William had 1600.

"What are you smiling?" William exclaimed. "If it's a powerful card, then bring it on! I'm ready for it."

"Foolish child," the evil man said. "You will regret your words. I sacrifice two monsters on my field to summon one of my powerful monsters: Tragoedia!"

"Tra-what?" As two monsters were sent to the graveyard, a huge monster appeared with long spider-like legs and a ghoul face. William was shocked but then realized its Attack and Defense points were zero. Little Crow noticed too and exclaimed,

"You can beat it! It doesn't have no Attack or Defense points!"

"That may be the case," James said. "But look at its level. It's super high!"

"Ten to be exact," Ian added.

"That means it must have a big monster effect, right?" little Yusei said to the others.

"Yup," Ryan answered. "Let's see what it is."

"Tragoedia is one of my most powerful monsters because of its ability. Although I could have summoned it earlier because I have taken battle damage, it gains 600 points attack and defense for every card that's in my hand! And I have eight cards, which means my monster's points go up to 4800 points!"

"What?!" William exclaimed in shock. "You kept your cards just for that monster?!"

"Yes!" the man cackled. "But the fun doesn't stop there! Another ability Tragoedia has to send one monster from my hand to the graveyard and let me take control of one of your monsters on the field with the same level as the monster that in sacrificed. I choose Honest, a Level 4 monster, to go to the graveyard and pick your Phantom Beast Wild-Horn to be in my control."

As soon as he said that, William's monster went on the other side of the field. It left William with only two monsters on his field and the man with three. "Now that I have your monster, I can attack your Shadow Slayer in defense mode but can still take damage! Attack, Phantom Beast!" The monster did, and it took away 1500 life points from William. "I also attack Leotaur with Tragoedia as well!"

"This ain't working out for him," Aaliyah whispered. "If he takes one hit from that monster with 4800 attack points..."

"He's screwed," Dylan finished. "It's an immediate game over."

"But he can't give up!" little Crow exclaimed, clutching his fists tight. "If he does, we'll lose Jack!" He went in front of the group and yelled, "Will, don't give up yet! You can beat him!"

"Yeah, I'm sure you can think of something!" Keiza agreed with an encouraging smile. "Beat that guy hard!"

"Don't worry guys, I will!" William said. "You can count on me!"

"How on earth can you get yourself out of this predicament?" the evil man exclaimed. "Tragoedia is an unstoppable monster! You can never defeat me." William took a deep breath. He knew that it was true the monster is very powerful, but that wouldn't stop him from trying. In Duel Monsters, the player is supposed to think out his or her strategies in order to defeat the opponent. However, William usually doesn't think things out far enough for an actual plan and would call on the power of luck to get him through the battle. But he wanted to win against the man to get Jack and to avenge Lizzy, so he was thinking of any strategy he could come up with to make this happen.

"I guess I have to rely on my draw," William thought after the mysterious man declared that his turn was done. Finally, William looked at his deck with three fingers on the next card he would draw. He chuckled, remembering something he learned from his home in Yuina.

 _"So if I'm in a tight situation," William began, looking through his cards. "I should rely on my luck! Right, Yugi?"_

 _"Well, not all the time," the spiked hair boy said. "It's not only luck that you need."_

 _"Hm? Why not?"_

 _"You need to believe in your cards," Yugi's counterpart explained, walking into the room. "Without faith, your cards won't come through for you. That's why it's called the heart of the cards."_

 _"That's a little lame, Yami," William said with a raised eyebrow. "How do you know if it works?"_

 _"Trust me," Yami smiled. "You'll know when the time comes."_

 _"Okay..."_

"Believing in your cards," William repeated softly. "That's what you said, Yami."

"Hm?" Ian said, listening. "What did you say, Will?"

"Remember when Yugi and Yami would always say something about "the heart of the cards"? That believing in them would guide you to victory?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Well right now, I'm gonna wing it," William said with a determined face. "But I'm also gonna believe in my cards because they can get me to victory!"

 **Time for a little fact about a Duel Monster card!**

 **Duel Monster: Tragoedia**

 **Attack: ? Defense: ?**

 **Type: Fiend monster**

 **Effect: When you take battle damage: you can Special Summon this card from your hand. This card gains 600 ATK and DEF for each card in your hand. Once per turn: You can send 1 monster from your hand to the Graveyard, then target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls with the same Level the sent monster had in the hand; take control of that face-up monster. Once per turn: You can target 1 monster in your Graveyard; this card's Level becomes the same as the target's, until the end of this turn.**

 **I don't own the rights to this card! It belongs to the creators of the card.**


	10. Chapter 10

"What's the heart of the cards?" little Yusei asked, tilting his head a little.

"Wait, you don't know what that is?" Ryan said in shock. "How do you not know?!"

"This is the future, dude," James mentioned. "I don't think anyone would know what that phrase means in this time."

"It's basically having faith in your cards, Yusei," Keiza explained. "No matter what, your cards will always be there to help you." At her explanation, the evil man laughed hard.

"How can you expect to win a battle just by relying on mere faith?" he exclaimed.

"You can't," William admitted. "You need faith and strategy for a game like this. But that's usually not my style. I wouldn't think about it for a second. I'd just do it, and you can ask my friends if I do that all the time. However...I can't do that anymore. When it comes to people I care about, I can't hesitate or let them down. I have to fight for them!" The blue aura surrounding his disk grew brighter as his hands felt that power run through his fingertips. The man noticed and said,

"You...you are a magician as well!"

"Yup!" William grinned. "There's three of us: me, Lizzy, and Melody. But Melody is somewhere else right now. Well there's Keiza but she's a different magic user."

"I'm an elemental magic user," Keiza explained. "If that's what people call it.."

"Is that why we see you play with water a lot?" little Crow said.

"Yes, Crow."

"But besides that," William began, "I am a magician and I will fight for my friends!"

"Heh," the evil man scoffed. "Go ahead and try! You can never defeat Tragoedia."

"I bet I can! And I'm putting all my hopes on the card I draw." William drew the card and smiled. "I summon Flare Resonator in Defense mode and saw two cards facedown to end my turn."

"Ha! That's all you're going you do to save yourself?! Fine then, it's my turn and I'll finish you off with your own card! Phantom Beast, attack Flare Resonator!" The man felt very secure about his win so he didn't play any other cards.

"Yup, now he's dead!" Ryan said.

"Don't say that," Aaliyah said with her hands on her hips. "He's got two facedown cards. He should be fine...or at least I hope so."

"Come on, Will!" Keiza exclaimed. William had a calm composure when beast was about to attack. The man was laughing maniacally until his opponent exclaimed,

"I wouldn't do that if I were you! I play a Trap: Magical Arm Shield. This allows me to take control of a monster on your side of the field except for the attacking monster, and your monster attacks the monster I chose instead. I choose your monster: Lyla, the Lightsworn Sorceress. So Phantom Beast attacks Lyla!" The two monsters attacked and they disappear to the player's graveyard. The evil man gritted his teeth, realizing that Lyla and the Phantom Beast had the same attack points, which allows both monsters go to the graveyard and no players lose life points.

"So what if you take out my monster?" the man said with a grin. "I still have my Tragoedia and it will attack your monster next!"

"No!" Keiza exclaimed, hiding her face on James' shoulder to not see the effects of the battle. The group was fearful, knowing that William tried but failed to block the attack.

"Wait, he's smiling!" little Crow said. "Why is Will smiling?"

"Because I planned this ever since I drew my lucky card!" William exclaimed. "I activate my second Trap card: Blast Held By A Tribute!"

"WHAT?!" the evil man gasped. "But how? How did you draw that card at the moment you needed it?"

"It's called the heart of the cards, buddy! I'm sure I don't have to explain the card to you but I will anyway: when my opponent declares an attack with a monster that was tribute summoned, I can destroy all of your monster that are faced up in Attack position and you take 1000 points in damage!" As soon as William said that, all of the evil man's monsters were destroyed and he was left with 300 life points. The man couldn't do anything except end his turn because all he had was monsters and spells that couldn't be used unless there was a monster on the field. William drew a card and exclaimed, "Now you'll pay for what you did to my friends! I play a Spell card: Stray Lambs. Now I can special summon 2 Lamb Tokens, which are practically monsters, to the field. With my monster tokens and Flare Resonator, I'm gonna give these monsters a bit of a tuning job! I hope you enjoy it!" The three monsters were whisked into the air and combined with a mystic circle encircling each monster until they were one. "I Synchro Summon one of my friends: the Horned White Beast!" A bright blue light appeared before William and brought out a ram-like monster with golden horns and a couple swords and axes for its tail. "All right buddy, it's time! I attack with Horned White Beast directly!" The monster obeyed its master and attacked the evil man, who let out a yell and collapsed to the ground.

"Yeah!" James exclaimed. "Now that's how you do it!"

"Yay!" little Crow yelled, running up to Will and hugging him. "I knew you can do it!"

"Thanks, little man," William smiled. The force field that was around little Jack finally disappeared and James picked him up from the ground.

"Okay, let's go," he announced to the group. "That man might have a few tricks up his sleeve even after a duel."

"I'll get Lizzy," William said, picking her up off the ground. Little Yusei looks at the two unconscious people and didn't say anything. His face was placid, showing no emotion whatsoever.

"Yusei, are you okay?" Aaliyah asked with some concern. The little boy turned to her and nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I'm okay...will Jack and Lizzy be okay?"

"Totally! They'll be up and walking before you know it."

"O-Okay. I just want to make sure they're okay."

"All right, buddy!" Little Yusei smiled a little bit and went with the group away from the opponent, who was still on the ground. He walked close to James and William, looking at his friends curiously. He seemed a bit uneasy because of what just happened and tried to keep himself from being sad. Little Crow noticed and walked next to his brother and said,

"At least that guy won't come after us anymore, right?"

"Yeah," little Yusei said. He turned around and saw that the evil man was gone. There was no trace of him leaving the area. The boy gulped and turned forward quickly, hoping that he and his friends won't encounter him again, and began to think of what the man said about before the battle. "Why did that guy say that he can change the present and future?" he thought. "And who's the Crimson Dragon?" He glanced at everyone around him and asked very quietly, "What secrets are you keeping from us?"


	11. Chapter 11

"I can't believe Lizzy hasn't woken up yet," Keiza said in surprise, putting a wet cloth on Lizzy's forehead. "It's been almost a day and Jack already woke up."

"Yeah," Aaliyah sighed in agreement. "Poor Lizzy, I wonder what happened. Her magic never failed like that before. Keiza nodded and touched Lizzy's forehead with her own, hoping that her unconscious friend would awaken soon. For some reason, Lizzy didn't wake up from the incident that happened the other day. The group wasn't concerned at the time because they knew that Lizzy could heal herself from any attack, and it usually would take a few hours. But 21 hours have passed and she was still limp on her bed. Now Keiza and Aaliyah have decided not to leave Lizzy's side until she woke up. Little Crow came into the room slowly and asked,

"Is Lizzy up yet?"

"No, buddy," Aaliyah answered. "It may be a little while longer before we see her up..."

"Okay..what's Keiza doing? Why does she so close to Lizzy like that?"

"Actually, Lizzy would do this all the time," Keiza said, shedding one tear. "If there was anyone extremely close to her, she and the other person would touch foreheads."

"Isn't that kind of weird?" little Crow said.

"A little but we all got used to it. Usually she would do this to her family and close friends. It just shows her love." Little Crow nodded and went towards Aaliyah, hugging her.

"Is something wrong?" Aaliyah asked him, hugging back.

"No,"the little boy responded. "Well...I don't think so. Yusei's okay but Jack has been quiet, especially towards James and Ryan."

"Did Jack tell you why?"

"No."

"Hm, that is a little strange." Suddenly, James came into the room and said,

"Will and I are going to the store to get some stuff. Anyone need anything?"

"Nope," Aaliyah said.

"Be safe, okay?" Keiza said. "I don't want you two to crash on your runners. You might die."

"Don't worry, Keiz " James smiled. "We'll be okay." He pecked Keiza's cheek and went out of the room, going to his destination.

"Awww," Aaliyah said, making Keiza turn red.

"Ew," little Crow said in response.

~Meanwhile~

Ian, Dylan, and two of the kids were in the living room, trying to keep themselves occupied. Little Yusei was working on a small toy with a screwdriver and little Jack was watching TV with Dylan and Ian. They weren't talking, just minding their own business.

"Ryan, is the popcorn ready yet?" Dylan asked loudly.

"Almost!" Ryan exclaimed from the kitchen. After a few minutes, Ryan came into the room with two bowls of popcorn. "All right everyone, I got two bowls so that we can share!" Little Jack glanced at Ryan silently and then walked out of the room, saying nothing at all. Ryan looked at Dylan and Ian, wondering what that was about. The two merely shrugged while the other boy kept working in his little project. Ryan sighed and put the two bowls on the table.

"Can I ask you guys something?" little Yusei said.

"Sure thing!" Dylan smiled. "What's your question?"

"What did that guy mean by changing the present and future?"

"Well, he means that he wants to change time and everything around that."

"So why did he want me, Jack, and Crow?"

"You three are gonna be important for the future," Ryan smiled.

"...How do you know that? Are you from the future?" There was a long pause from Dylan, Ian, and Ryan. They had no idea that Yusei would figure it out so quickly, but then again he was a smart kid. However, the silence was long enough for the boy to make his own conclusion. "You are, aren't you?" Ian bit his lip a bit and slowly said,

"Well-"

"Why?" little Yusei asked.

"Why what?"

"Why didn't you say anything to us?"

"Um," Dylan said, thinking a bit. "It's really hard to explain, buddy. I don't know if you'll understand it."

"I can try! Please tell me." Dylan, Ian, and Ryan looked at each other, wondering what they should do. However, they decided to give it a try and explained it as carefully as they could. Soon, James and William came back to the house with a few bags from the store.

"Hey, we're back!" William exclaimed.

"Hey guys," Ian said. "Could you help us with something? We're having a bit of trouble..."

"Oh dear, what's the situation?"

"We..may have told Yusei what's been happening.."

"What?!" James exclaimed. "How much did you tell him?"

"Not too much but enough to know what's been happening. He was just getting curious, that's all."

"You can't just tell him these sort of things! He wouldn't understand since he's still a kid."

"Hey, he's been doing pretty well," Ryan said, walking to them. "The only problem we're dealing with is how to explain the Crimson Dragon." James' eyes widened a bit as he said,

"Dude, you can't tell him about that."

"Why not? He's gonna know eventually so why not tell him now!"

"You CAN'T say anything more of it, okay? No more talking of it."

"But why?!" little Yusei exclaimed, running to them. "Why do you keep things from us?" After a long explanation, the boy wanted to desperately know why this was happening.

"It's a very complicated process," James explained with a sigh. "I'm sure you won't understand it."

"Yes, I could! I can understand a lot of things!"

"Okay, name a few."

"You all live in the same house because you probably don't have much money, my brothers and I live here since we have nowhere else to go..."

"What else?" James asked.

"Um.." little Yusei said, thinking. "Let me think..."

"James, I think that's enough questions," Ian said. "Just let him be."

"No, let's see if he can prove his case," James whispered. "I want to see him do it." Ian sighed, shaking his head. Ryan tried to reason with James but it only exploded into a big debate. Dylan and Ian tried to calm them down again but this time it was no use and a big fight started. William even came into the fight to try and make the group stop. Nothing would stop their big argument until little Yusei said,

"You fight a lot." The group stopped their actions and turned to him, realizing that he was watching the whole thing. "I thought you were a team of friends. Friends don't fight like this...and you guys fight over little mistakes!"

"We do sometimes," James said. "And then we have to deal with it as time passes. It's like a ghost." After sinking in the information, the boy started to have hot tears in his eyes.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" William asked, now extremely concerned. "Did James say something wrong?"

"Are me and my brothers here because you have to deal with the mistake of turning us into kids?" little Yusei exclaimed, crying. "Is that all we're here for?!"

"What, of course not!" Ryan said. "We're your friends." He approached little Yusei a tiny bit but the boy shook his head and ran upstairs, still crying.

"Oh no, what did we do?" Ian said sadly.


	12. Chapter 12

Lizzy groaned loudly, flickering her eyes open. She put her hand on her forehead and asked,

"What happened?"

"Lizzy, you're awake!" Keiza exclaimed happily. "That's so wonderful!"

"Yeah...how long was I out?"

"You were out for at least a day.."

"A day?!" Lizzy immediately sat up, shocked that she was unconscious for that long. "W-What's been happening?"

"A lot has happened while you were asleep..." Keiza started to explain what has happened in the past few hours. Although she wasn't there when it occurred, William came upstairs to explain to Aaliyah and Keiza what happened. After the explanation, Lizzy's eyes stared at her feet on the bed, shocked.

"W-Why did it come to this?" Lizzy stuttered. "Just because they're kids, doesn't mean they would be oblivious to what has been happening."

"And I honestly don't know who to blame," Aaliyah said with a sigh. "It seems like it's everyone's fault."

"No, it's my fault! This wouldn't have happened if I left the potion out of the cupboard, and I haven't figured out an antidote yet."

"Liz, stay calm," Keiza said. "You're stressing about this too much. It'll be okay."

"No, it won't!" Lizzy cried. "I can't even master my own powers. How am I supposed to help anyone if I can't tap into my magic anymore?!

"There are plenty of ways you can help! You can't resort yourself to magic all the-"

"How am I supposed to be of use to anyone without my magic? My magic is supposed to heal, bring light, and have the ability to find people by aura. How do you think I was able to find you guys? If I can't get my magic to work, my efforts would've been for nothing."

"Your efforts haven't been for nothing!" Aaliyah exclaimed. "Don't tell yourself that! You can find a way to get through this."

"But how?!" Lizzy yelled, now with tears streaming down her face. "HOW?! I can't even do alchemy anymore. What can I do now? I'm just useless...and I've left our friends to be possibly stuck as kids." She let her head fall on Keiza's shoulder and she began to cry uncontrollably, not caring of what will happen next. She only thought of her past actions, even before she left Yuina, and kept sobbing. Keiza held Lizzy tight in her arms, trying to calm her down but knew that she wouldn't be too successful. Aaliyah was silent, watching the two. She then began to think of why Lizzy would think this sort of way, believing that only magic will be helpful. A memory struck Aaliyah's mind..

 _Aaliyah walked past the school gym, whistling happily with no care in the world. She glanced up at the sky and then heard a scream from inside the gym. She quickly ran to the gym door and peeked inside. She saw her good friend Lizzy on the ground, scraped up with wounds on her arms and legs. Lizzy panted a bit and a voice exclaimed,_

 _"You are weak, child! Your training is imperative to keeping the people of Yuina safe. If not, you will amount to nothing but failure! You must not have any distractions when it comes to your duty. Do you understand, child?"_

 _"Y-Yes!" Lizzy said, standing back up slowly. She yelped a tiny bit, holding her arm in pain._

 _"No weakness!" the voice exclaimed. "You must not show any weaknesses whatsoever!" Lizzy gritted her teeth and stood firm, not holding her arm anymore. She concentrated on her magic again, letting a yellow hue grow in her hands. She and the voice began to train more ferociously. Aaliyah watched their training, not making a sound._

Aaliyah had that memory at the back of her head as she stared at Keiza comforting the sobbing Lizzy. "Oh Lizzy.." she said softly.

~Meanwhile~

James sat on the steps in front of the house, looking up at the sun-setting sky. He thought about the entire day and how everything fell apart. He groaned and said,

"What have I done? i'm supposed to be a leader to my friends. But I've caused more trouble than I have stopped it. Now what do I do?"

"As the leader, you should fix it, right?" Dylan said, sitting next to him.

"That easier said than done, dude," James sighed.

"I know. Remember that time when I wouldn't talk much during classes and wouldn't be with anyone from school?"

"I barely remember that, Dylan. When you were a first year in high school, I was a fourth year."

"That's besides the point. Anyway, it took time for me to reach out and make friends. Of course I made a few mistakes but it was okay. Everyone makes mistakes once and awhile and that's why we're not perfect. I'm sure you made a few mistakes as well, right?"

"Yeah, I've made quite a few."

"Well, that shouldn't stop you from trying again, right? I'm sure Jarod made mistakes too!" James immediately thought of his best friend Jarod as soon as his name was mentioned. Back in Yuina, Jarod and James were childhood friends, along with their good friend Bryan. Along the way, they met the three siblings, Keiza, Summer, and Jewel, and soon Jarod had a step-sibling, Lizzy. Jarod was declared the leader of closely-knit group of seven and made quite a few mistakes as leader, most which that the rest of the group forgave him for. Jarod still kept a positive attitude when it came to leadership, which James liked of his friend. James smiled at Dylan and said,

"You're right. That means I can't give up yet!"

"Yup!" Dylan grinned. "All you have to do now is bring everyone back together again."

"It won't be easy but I will definitely give it a good try. But there's one thing I have to do first before I do that."

"What is it?"

"There's a little guy I have to go talk to. Do you know where Jack is?"

"Um...I actually don't. He might be in the living room but I'm not sure."

"Okay, I'll go find him." James stood up and went back inside the house, going first in the living room. He didn't see Jack in there so he decided to check around a bit more. That was when he heard some commotion in the kitchen, so he went over there as quickly as possible. There he saw his young friend on the ground, staring up at the fridge. "Hungry?" James chuckled. Little Jack jolted like lightning and turned to James. The boy's countenance turned more placid as he nodded slowly, looking back up at the fridge. James smiled and grabbed the water boiler from atop of the fridge. "Hey, I'm sorry about the other day. I honestly didn't pay attention to what was going on and I almost lost you and Crow. I don't have any excuses and again, I'm really sorry. Can you forgive me?" James turned to the young boy and saw his eyes wide. Little Jack stared at James for a few moments. He wasn't expecting an apology from James, let alone a tiny speech. After a minute, little Jack smiled and then gave James a hug. "Whoa, I never imagined you being a hugger, buddy," James said, hugging back.

"I know," the blonde boy answered. "I forgive you."

"Thanks, little man. Now let's have ramen!"

"Ok!"


	13. Chapter 13

In the middle of the night, little Yusei sat at the top of the staircase with his legs curled up to his chest. Waking up after a nightmare, he didn't want to wake up his brothers or his friends that were already asleep. So he quietly walked out of his room and took refuge at the stairs. He began to play with his black hair a bit, trying to see the yellow streak across his head. He knew no one would be up this late, and he didn't know if Lizzy was awake yet. He sighed and stopped what he was doing, thinking about what he said to the guys. "Why are we here?" he said to himself. "What's the point?" He still didn't understand why this was happening and wanted to know more.

"Hey, buddy." The boy looked ahead and saw Lizzy at the bottom of the stairs. "Whatcha doing? It's pretty late to be up."

"I can't sleep," little Yusei responded softly. Lizzy chucked and said,

"I'll be honest: I can't sleep either. I'm probably thinking too much...could I sit by you?"

"Sure." The girl smiled a bit and walked up the stairs. She sat next to her friend and sighed.

"What a day it's been," Lizzy said. "I hope we never have a day like this again."

"I guess...are Crow, Jack, and I here only because of everyone's mistakes?" Lizzy's eyes widened and she said,

"Who told you that?"

"No one did. I just thought that after everything that's happened."

"I see. Well, it wasn't everyone's mistake, buddy. It was only one person that could take the blame."

"Really, who was it?" Lizzy opened her mouth to respond but then bit her lip. She knew what she needed to say but had no courage to say it. She then just sighed. After a long silence, the boy said, "Was it you?"

"Yup...you guessed it. And now I have to live with that mistake until I can fix it. You're not mad at me, are you?"

"No, why would I be? I told you that if I drank one of your potions, I wouldn't blame you for it."

"Wait, you were serious?"

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I be?" Lizzy thought about that for a moment. She couldn't think of a time where Yusei wasn't serious. He was just that type of guy and she had to get used to that when they first met. She then thought more about the situation and realized that she didn't think of her friends when she was crying.

"I guess we all make mistakes sometimes," she said with a tiny sigh. "I'm still sorry. I made you three suffer through your childhood again."

"How is that suffering?" little Yusei asked curiously. "It's been fun playing with everyone. I like it a lot!" He suddenly had sad eyes on his face and looked down the staircase. Lizzy felt her heart drop a little and asked softly,

"What's wrong, buddy?"

"My dream..."

"Your dream? What was it about?" The little boy began to sniffle a little bit as he choked out,

"E-Everyone began to hate me because of what I said yesterday. They avoided me until I was left all alone...even you left me. I ran after everyone until I couldn't anymore. I-I don't want to be left alone!" He almost started to cry until Lizzy wrapped her arms around him tightly. His eyes widened, not expecting a reaction like that. He couldn't say anything because his tears dominated over his voice.

"My friends and I would never hate you, buddy. You were only speaking your mind and that's okay to do. We won't ever leave you, Crow, or Jack." Lizzy rubbed circles on the boy's back carefully to soothe him. She felt his head reach her shoulder and softly heard him weep. "Hey, it's okay," Lizzy smiled, chuckling softly. "It'll be okay." She sighed in a dreamlike manner but then tinted red, wondering how this will affect their relationship when he turned back to normal. However, she shoved that thought to the back of her mind and said, "Let's get some sleep, okay?"

"But how can I sleep?" little Yusei questioned, wiping his tears. "I don't think I can sleep without having that dream again.."

"You have a good point. So that means I have to introduce you to my little friend! Come with me." Lizzy stood up, holding the boy in his arms, and walked to the room she sleeps in with Keiza and Aaliyah. She quietly opened the door and crept in slowly, going towards her bed. She knelt down carefully and grabbed a little blue backpack from under the bed. She smiled and quickly went out of the room with the bag.

"Why did you grab a backpack?" little Yusei asked curiously.

"I grabbed it because inside of it there's something special!"

"What is it?"

"You'll find out in a sec!" Lizzy said with a happy wink, unzipping the bag. She quickly looked inside to see if what she was looking for was there. She grinned, having found the item, and pulled it out of her bag. "Ta-da!" In her hand was a stuffed bear, brown and fluffy all over. Its marble-shaped eyes and stitched up smile made the animal have a happy aura surrounding it. Although Lizzy understood the bear's place in the situation, the boy had no idea why she brought it out. He tilted his head slightly and said,

"A stuffed bear?"

"Yup!" Lizzy grinned childishly. "This teddy bear will save the day!" Little Yusei furrowed his eyebrows quite a bit, still not understanding where she was going. She chuckled out of embarrassment and explained, "When I was your age, I would have bad dreams all the time and my mom had a hard time putting me to sleep. I was too scared to close my eyes because of my nightmares. So my mom got me this little bear to sleep with, and it's been with me ever since."

"How is a bear supposed to help me sleep?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. I think it's the concept of having someone sleep beside you."

"What's a concept?"

"A concept is basically an idea but that's not the point. The point is that with this little animal, you can probably sleep better." Lizzy handed him the stuffed bear, which he clutched in his little arms.

"What if it doesn't work?" little Yusei asked, a bit hesitant. "What would I do?"

"If it doesn't work," Lizzy began, thinking, "then just come to me, okay? I'll help you out." The boy nodded and went over to his room, holding the bear tight. Lizzy laughed softly and followed him to the room. She went inside and saw her friend climb onto the bed, pulling the bed covers to his chest. "Sleep well," she said quietly. The boy looked at her and nodded, smiling. Lizzy turned to walk out when she heard some noise coming from another bed. She sighed with a soft smile and went to that bed. The sheets ruffled more until a little head with orange hair popped out. "What are you doing, Crow?"

"I woke up when the door opened," he responded with a yawn. "Is it morning yet?"

"Not yet," Lizzy smiled, ruffling his hair. "Now go back to bed."

"Okay." He popped back under the covers as Lizzy went out of the room and closed the door softly. Her heart warmed up while going to her room, thinking of how close everyone was getting to each other.

"Our lives are intertwining with one another," she thought. "I wonder what else will happen to us?"


	14. Chapter 14

"Okay everyone, I have an announcement to make!" James exclaimed. "So let's come to the living room for the...thing."

"Ok!" everyone else responded. They gathered into the living room, some where sitting on the floor and some were not. James stood in front of them and took a deep breath.

"Here we go," he thought. He cleared his throat and said, "Now, I'm not good at these sort of things so please bear with me. It's a little difficult."

"You got this, bro!" William cheered.

"Thanks Will. Anyway, I think it's time that we tell the truth to our little friends."

"Huh?" little Crow said. "What do you mean?"

"It's just that when we met you three," James explained. "...you were quite a bit older than you were now."

"Eh?"

"Let me try to explain this carefully.." And so James did his bests to elaborate to the kids of what had occurred, even though the rest of the group had to help him out because he couldn't figure out the right words to say. As soon as he finished, he was completely hesitant on how the boys would take all in the information. In fact, he wasn't sure if they would completely understand it when he was first thinking of what to say to them. But he believed that they would get a good idea of what's been going on based on what he found out from Yusei the other day. After James and the group elaborated the situation, he said to the kids, "Do you understand all of that or is it a bit confusing?"

"It makes sense," little Jack said. "I probably won't remember this though." The other two nodded in agreement.

"Okay but through it all, we are all sorry that you got roped into this mess. Lizzy, don't you say a word! We are all getting the blame because that's how a group is. When one gets the blame, we all share the blame!"

"Aww, you're sweet, James!" Lizzy smiled happily.

"Despite shat just happened with the word 'sweet'," William began, "James does have a point. We're all sorry for this."

"I'm also sorry about the other day," Ryan admitted. "Paying attention is not my expertise except when playing games. Games are an entirely different story. So I apologize for the incident."

"Oh my goodness, Ryan apologized?!" Aaliyah exclaimed. "It's a miracle!" Ryan glared at her for the comment, which made everyone else laugh.

"So what do you say, boys?" James asked little Yusei, Crow, and Jack. "Are we cool now?" The three glanced at each other and smirked, knowing what to do next. They stood up and ran over to James, hug tackling him to the ground. "Well, I guess we are!" James laughed. "And I can't get out of this hug. Someone, help me!"

"No one will save you!" little Crow said jokingly, trying to keep James down on the ground.

"Oh no! I'll be stuck in a hug forever!"

"I'll save you!" Aaliyah yelled heroically. She dashed over to James and tried to get the kids off of him. Unfortunately, they were really stubborn and did not move an inch. The girl then got wrapped up in the tackle hug and couldn't get out. "Guys, I need back up!" Slowly, the entire group became wrapped up into the tackle hug but they had to stand up after awhile because the group members that were closest to the floor were having a hard time breathing.

"Awww, I'm so proud of you, Jamsy," Keiza giggled, pinching his cheek a little.

"What did I do?" James asked curiously, blushing lightly.

"You were able to act like a leader for our group!"

"Oh yeah...I did! I feel great! Now can you please stop pinching my cheek. It feels weird when you do this in front of everyone."

"How about this?" Keiza kissed James' cheek sweetly, making him blush more. "How about that~"

"I like that a lot, Keiz~" James grabbed her face and pressed his lips on hers sweetly. As soon as this happened, some of the group covered the kids' two lovers were soon wrapped in each other's arms and Lizzy exclaimed,

"There are children here! Do not make them see this!"

"I don't think they care," William sighed. "And if they don't stop soon, it'll get interesting."

"What's going on?" little Crow asked, trying to peek out from Ryan's hand.

"No Crow, you don't need to see this!" Ryan said. He used his other hand to create a double shield for the boy. "This is something that children should not watch." He and the other two kids were trying to see what was happening persistently until Ian said,

"Hey, could you move upstairs? The kids are getting too curious." Keiza and James stopped kissing and proceeded to move out of the room, relieving everyone else and letting the boys uncover their eyes.

"What happened?" little Yusei questioned.

"Adult things, my friend," William said. "Adult things that kids your age shouldn't see."

"But aren't I an adult in this time?"

"Yes, but not right this second." Suddenly, a vibrant knock came through and its sound entered the living room.

"I'll get it," Ryan said, leaving the room. He opened the door and smiled, seeing the group's friends once again. "I'm beginning to wonder why you visit so much."

"Well, we like to check up on you guys sometimes!" Leo exclaimed with a grin.

"How are you holding up from the other day?" Akiza asked.

"We are doing better," Ryan smiled. "A lot better. So far, everything is back to normal."

"That's great!"

"Hey guys!" Lizzy exclaimed, running to the front door to see them. "How's it going?"

"Good!" Luna responded. "Why were you running? Were you that excited to see us?"

"Yes and also we just started a game of tag. And I'm not 'it'!" As soon as she said that, Aaliyah dashed to the scene and tapped Lizzy's shoulder, saying,

"You're 'it'!" She then quickly dashed away to avoid being caught. Lizzy's eyes widened in surprise, not seeing that coming from a mile away.

"I guess you're 'it' now," Akiza laughed.

"Awww, I don't wanna be 'it'!" Lizzy complained with a huff.

"You're not getting me!" Ryan shouted, running away from her as quickly as he could. Lizzy sighed sadly but then smirked a little, having an idea. She quickly tapped Leo's head and ran off fast.

"Wait, I'm 'it' now?!" Leo yelled.

"Yup!" Luna giggled. She and Akiza dashed away as Leo tried to find someone to tag. He was beginning to be very frustrated when he couldn't find anyone in sight. He groaned loudly and walked throughout the house to find a person with no success. James and Keiza came down the stairs and saw Leo.

"Hey, what's going on?" James asked him.

"We're all playing tag and I'm 'it'," Leo explained. "But it's too hard to find anyone and I'm not that fast..."

"Oh, then just tag me then. I'll get them!"

"Ok!" Leo touched James' shirt and ran off.

"Keiza, I'm giving you a head start so start running." Keiza nodded and went off as James announced, "I'm 'it', everyone!" He began to dash very fast around the house and everyone else was running from him, laughing as they went.


	15. Chapter 15

"Hey everyone, look what I found in the garage!" William exclaimed, carrying a big electronic board with a stand into the living room and dropping it on the couch. The group gathered around the sofa and were surprised.

"Awesome!" James announced. "We have a keyboard! Now we got the music."

"Sweet!" Keiza chirped.

"A keyboard?" little Crow repeated. "What's that?"

"It's an instrument that makes music," Aaliyah explained.

"An instrument?"

"Yeah! Here, we'll show you." She turned the keyboard upside down and looked at its exterior a bit.

"Uh Ali," Ryan began, "the power button is on the other side of the keyboard."

"Oh," Aaliyah said, kind of embarrassed. "I knew that." She turned the board back and pressed the power button. She pressed it again and after a few seconds press the button very fast.

"Would this help?" little Yusei asked, holding up the power plug.

"...Yes, yes it would."

"But before that, let's get the stand up so that we can set the piano on it," Ian advised. The group agreed and put the keyboard on its stand and placed it near a power outlet. Aaliyah plugged in the keyboard cord and turned on the electric instrument. She pressed one of the keys, and the key made its unique sound.

"All right, it works!" she said with a grin. "Who wants to play first?"

"I will, I will!" Keiza said excitedly, almost jumping up in the air. "I want to!"

"Then go ahead!"

"Yay!" Keiza grabbed a small stool and sat down in front of the piano. She cracked her knuckles slowly to get her fingers more flexible and began to play a little song. Everyone else watched her in awe. She finally finished the song after a few minutes, and everyone applauded.

"Still got it, huh?" Lizzy smiled with a little wink.

"You know it!" Keiza exclaimed with a hint of sass.

"I wanna try, I wanna try!" little Crow shouted. He went in front of the piano and played a few random notes, smiling happily. The other two kids wanted to have a turn, so they started playing keys on the keyboard, having fun.

"Settle down, you three," Dylan said with a chuckle. "That's a lot of noise you're making. You might hurt our ears." The kids stopped and said,

"Sorry."

"It's okay. But just be careful not to hurt anyone's ears. We need our ears to hear."

"Speaking of that," James began with a tiny smirk, "why don't we listen to Dylan play a song for us?"

"Yeah play us a song, music man!" Lizzy smiled. "You've always been good at the piano like Keiza."

"Nah it's okay," Dylan said with a nervous chuckle. "I haven't played since we got to the city. I don't think I'm that good anymore."

"Come on. It'll be fun! It doesn't hurt to try." The rest of the group kept encouraging him to play and finally Dylan gave in, sitting down in front of the piano. He took a relaxing breath and thought,

"I got this. I've done it since I was a kid and I won't stop now!" He grinned and began to play one of his favorite upbeat songs. The group cheered and clapped along to the beat of the song. Dylan smiled more and began to sing the song, having fun in the process.

"Woohoo!" Ryan exclaimed. "Go, Dylan!" He began to sing along too, although he wasn't the best singer out there. But he wanted to have fun with his friend, so he sang. James and Keiza decided to dance along to the music, holding each other close and laughing. The others started dancing to the song until everyone was doing it. Sometimes everyone would trip over each other's feet because of their proximity to one another, but they didn't care. Soon the song was done, and everyone clapped for Dylan. The pianist did a tiny bow and said,

"Does anyone else want to try?"

"I don't think anyone can top that!" Keiza said. "Of course I can try, but it won't be that good."

"How do you play?" little Jack asked, looking at the keys on the board. "It looks difficult to play."

"It's not too hard to play. Want me to show you?"

"Okay." Keiza tried to scoot over on the stool, but she ended up falling to the ground, helping softly. She then laughed and exclaimed,

"I need a bigger seat!"

"I got you, Keiza!" William said, bringing over a chair and replacing the stool with it. Then Keiza and little Jack sat on the chair, and the former began to teach the latter an easy song she knew with two parts. The boy had a hard time playing his part at first, but he got the hang of it after a while, playing the song with Keiza. Little Crow and Yusei watched, wanting to play too when they get a chance. As soon as Keiza and little Jack stop playing, the other two kids asked if they could play the piano too. Keiza smiled and asked Dylan to help out, grabbing another chair to sit on. Soon the four were playing on the piano happily as the rest of the group watched them.

"I hope this doesn't affect their future," William whispered to Ryan and Lizzy.

"Oh yeah," Ryan murmured in surprise. "I forgot about that..."

"Well, at least they'll be music literate when they get back to normal," Lizzy chuckled.

"Have you figured out an antidote yet, Lizzy?"

"No, I haven't. I need to figure out a way to get it working. I've been trying to turn it red, but it hasn't worked for some reason."

"How much love have you given it?" William asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's weird, dude," Ryan noted. "Are you sure that's what she puts in the potions?"

"Whenever Lizzy makes a drink for a particular purpose, she puts her whole heart into it for the people she gives it to. That's what I meant." Lizzy's eyes widened as he mentioned that and she ran over to the kitchen.

"Was that the ingredient I was missing?!" she thought to herself. She got to the kitchen and stared at the locked cupboard. "Every time I heal," she said to herself, "I would bring my empathy into my magic..did I do not have empathy beforehand?" She thought more about this until William and Ryan entered the room.

"Hey, are you okay?" William asked in concern. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No you didn't," Lizzy responded with a small smile. " it I think you helped me find the solution. I just need to know how to execute it when I make the potion."

"Wait, you're gonna make the potion again?!"

"I will soon. Just not right now."

"Hey!" little Crow exclaimed, running in the kitchen. "You have to watch us play! It's cool." The three looked at each other and nodded with a smile, following the little boy to see what accomplishment was made.


	16. Chapter 16

"All right kids, it's time for a bedtime story!" William exclaimed in their bedroom.

"Yay!" little Crow said, getting comfy under the bed covers. "Will it be a good one?"

"Of course it will! Because Lizzy is telling a story!"

"Eh?!" Lizzy yelled from out of the room. She came to the bedroom, holding a toothbrush in her hand. "I'm telling a story tonight?!"

"Yes, you are!" William grinned, patting Lizzy's shoulder and walked out of the room. "Have fun!"

"William Gray, I will knock you hard to the ground!" Lizzy almost went out of the room but then remembered that three little boys were waiting for her to tell a story. "I'll be back, okay? I have to brush my teeth and punch someone in the face!" She immediately ran out of the room, leaving the there to question what was going on.

"Do you think Lizzy will punch Will?" little Yusei asked.

"It's likely," little Jack said. "But we can see what happens."

"I still want a bedtime story!" little Crow said. Suddenly, Lizzy ran into the room while sliding her feet on the ground. However, she realized that the floor was carpet too late and fell on her face. The three laughed as she got up from the ground.

"And that was your comic relief for the night," Lizzy smiled, blushing a bit. "Now it's time to settle down and tell a story."

"What kind of bedtime story are you gonna tell us?" one of the boys asked.

"Hmm, let me think..." Lizzy had never told a bedtime story before, even though she liked to be with kids a lot. She thought for a while and then had an idea. "Have my friends told you about Yuina yet?"

"No," the kids responded.

"Ooooh!" Lizzy giggled. "Then this will be fun!" She rubbed her hands together happily and cleared her throat, ready to begin. "A long, long time ago, a group of voyagers lived in a small town near the sea. They would journey from the town to the sea to explore the world around them. As time went on, the little town grew into a big city!"

"Was it as big as New Domino?" little Jack asked.

"Good question! I honestly have no idea, but I think it was a bit smaller than this city. I'm not sure though. Anyway, the city folk was still traveling to the sea at that the time until the day when the people discovered a sacred island where they can quickly go to unknown places across time. So the people made their way to that island and settled on that island. That place became Yuina."

"So what was that other city?" little Crow said.

"Not many knows," Lizzy admitted. "They say that the city is still thriving today, but no one knows."

"Do people travel across the sea now?"

"Not exactly...a lot of the voyagers perished in a storm while coming back to Yuina. The citizens felt so scared to go back out there that they shut themselves out from the outside. They used a big barrier for protection and banned adventuring outside of the wall."

"Is this city outside the barrier?" little Yusei asked.

"It actually is!" Lizzy chuckled. "And how we got here is an entirely different story!"

 _"How is this possible?!" Jarod exclaimed, checking through all of the city's radars on the computer. "The computer says that a ton of people has disappeared!" Lizzy looked at the computer in shock and asked,_

 _"Who left?"_

 _"That's what I'm finding out!" Jarod immediately checked the records of all the people of Yuina and scrolled down names that have been labeled 'MISSING.' The two gasped loudly as many of the people they knew were gone, and they didn't know how to get them back._

 _"They're gone..." Lizzy said, tears in her eyes. "They're all gone...James, Ali, Will, Keiza, Summer, Xavier, my little Melody.." She fell to the ground and started sobbing uncontrollably. "It's all my fault!"_

 _"No Lizzy," Jarod said, hugging her. "It's not your fault for not seeing this. No one did, but we got to get them back somehow. We'll find them, sis!" Lizzy nodded with tears in her eyes, and she looked out her brother's window and saw a ray of red light that connected the sky with the sea inside the barrier. Her eyes widened in fascination as she drew close to the window, soon touching the glass. Jarod joined her and said, "What is that?"_

 _"It's...it's our only hope! They're probably out there in that light."_

 _"Sis, we can't rely on probably. We have to be sure." Lizzy turned to him with a fierce look in her eyes._

 _"Jarod, we have no choice," she spoke boldly. "We have to find out what's out there! It's the only way." Her brother looked at her and smiled, seeing how serious she was. He hugged her again and said,_

 _"Liz, I can't come with you. The watch guards will find us if we go together...but you can."_

 _"What?!" Lizzy exclaimed with tears in her eyes. "I-I can't go without you. I need you with me!"_

 _"It's better that way," Jarod said. "Two people leaving the city is dangerous..but if one goes, you won't get caught. Besides, I need to be here to protect our remaining friends." Lizzy looked at her brother's eyes and nodded, understanding what he's saying. She laid her forehead on his and closed her eyes._

 _"I'll be back soon," she murmured. "And when I do, I'll bring everyone back!"_

 _"I know you will," her brother said. He secretly grabbed something out of his pocket and put it into hers, smiling a little. "Good luck, sis."_

 _"Thanks, big brother."_

Lizzy smiled a little after telling that part of the story. However, she didn't mention that she was the one that left the city to find everyone. She didn't know why she was so honest to the three, but it was a feeling that needed to be expressed, a tale that needed to be said. "It's a little strange, isn't it?"

"Not really," little Jack smiled.

"Are you gonna find your way home?" little Crow asked quickly. At that moment, everyone else came into the room. They couldn't help but hear the story and stood just outside of the doorway until they decided to come in.

"Let's just say we're working on that," William said. "But we have more important things to worry about right now."

"Really, what's that?"

"Being with you guys, of course!" Ryan smiled. "We've known you guys for six and a half months now, and we're not gonna let you go that easily."

"Even though I wouldn't have put it that way," James began, "I agree with Ryan. You might not know it or will remember in the future, but you three, Akiza, Luna, and Leo became family in our eyes. A family doesn't separate that easily, and we won't know until the day we can't be together anymore."

"That's gonna be a long time," little Yusei noted.

"Oh we know, buddy. We are aware. But we all need sleep so that we can hang out tomorrow!"

"Yes, I want to sleep!" Dylan said, running out of the room.

"Me too!" Ryan exclaimed, going out of the room. "I just hope I get a bed this time!" Everyone laughed and said their goodnights to each other, leaving three happy boys to fall asleep on their beds.


	17. Chapter 17

"Let's not disturb them, okay?" Lizzy said with a nervous chuckle. "You could scare them."

"But I wanna pinch their cheeks!"

"Don't do that!" The two were currently at the kitchen, watching over the three kids sleep on the couch. The group just finished watching a movie and the three knocked out when the credits started rolling. The others decided to not disturb them so they quietly went out of the room. "You know what?" Lizzy said with a smile. "I'm gonna go work on my runner. It's been forever since I done it."

"You go, girl!" Keiza grinned. "Make sure to give James a hug, okay? He's probably working on his too."

"Ok!" Lizzy walked off and went into the garage, where she saw James working on his green motorcycle. She then saw her navy blue runner almost right beside his and grinned, ready to get working on it. In the group, the only ones that had runners were James, Lizzy, William, and Ryan. They couldn't get any more because there wasn't enough space in the garage to keep them, despite the fact that they could just park it outside of the house. But no one minded that and everyone was content with having only four runners.

"Hey!" James smiled. "Gonna work on your vehicle?"

"Yup!" Lizzy exclaimed. "I kind of want to ride it around today so I'm checking if it's still working?"

"Still working?! Lizzy, don't doubt the power of a motorcycle!"

"Yeah but don't you remember the last time I didn't check?"

" _You gotta be kidding me!" Lizzy exclaimed, looking at her runner's smoked engine. "Why did you break down on me now?!" She pulled off to the side of the road and looked at the engine closely, not seeing the problem and groaning. "If I have to take you apart again, I will leave on the side of the road!" She messed with the engine for a bit but got really frustrated. She kicked the runner and it tilted towards one side. However, it started to fall where she was sitting and she wasn't quick enough to get out of her position. She ended it up on the ground, with her runner collapsed on her stomach. "Well, this just got worse..." She tried to get the runner off of her but was too tired to do it. She groaned loudly and laid there on the ground, not caring anymore. She looked at the sky until a familiar figure with black hair came into view._

 _"Need help?" he asked._

 _"Yusei...when a person is underneath their runner and has practically given up on life, that's the moment to help!" He was surprised that she yelled at him. He got on his knees and asked,_

 _"Why are you being cranky?"_

 _"...I haven't had lunch yet."_

 _"Lizzy, it's 4 in the afternoon."_

 _"I know..."_

 _"When did you have breakfast?"_

 _"...9."_

 _"Why?!"_

 _"I have errands to do! Don't judge me!"_

"I remember that day," James said. "It was when you starved yourself to get stuff for us."

"I did not starve myself!" Lizzy argued. "I just didn't go home to eat lunch. Plus, I didn't have much money."

"That's starving yourself, buddy. But be glad Yusei took you to get sushi."

"I think he couldn't handle me when I'm cranky." James chuckled and went back to work on his motorcycle. Lizzy cracked her knuckles and began to work on her runner.

~Meanwhile~

"So what else should we do today?" William asked the remaining group who was not asleep or in the garage.

"I have no idea," Ryan sighed. "There's nothing to do. We've already watched a movie and the sun is still in the sky."

"Yeah...how about we grab some dinner?"

"Yeah, let's get pizza!" Aaliyah grinned. "Anyone else want to join?"

"I will," Dylan said, raising his hand slightly.

"I'll stay behind," Ian said. "Just to watch over the kids."

"Me too," Keiza agreed. The group then split up even more to get food.

~Later~

"Done!" Lizzy exclaimed after spending a few hours on her motorcycle. She wiped her dirty hands with a small towel and sighed in accomplishment. "I think I did well today."

"You definitely did!" James smiled. "Nothing exploded this time!"

"Shut up! Last time it was because the engine went crazy!" The two laughed and then high five each other because of what they have accomplished. They cleaned up and headed back into the house. Lizzy opened the door and little Yusei ran into her, falling backward to the ground. "Whoops!" Lizzy said. "Sorry about that, buddy. Are you okay?" The boy shook his head and said,

"I had a bad dream.."

"Oh no, again? Did you have the bear with you?"

"No."

"Wait, you gave him your teddy bear?" James said, figuring that out quickly. "Really, Lizzy?"

"It's supposed to help!" Lizzy protested. "What else could I do? Besides, it usually works." The boy clung to her, still scared of his nightmare. Lizzy looked down at him with concern and said, "It's okay now. Nothing will harm you now." Little Yusei nodded but stayed close to Lizzy.

"Hey, how did it go?" Keiza asked, walking towards them.

"It went great," James smiled, pecking her cheek. "We got a lot done."

"Wonderful! William, Ryan, and Aaliyah went out to get some pizza for dinner."

"Pizza?" little Yusei repeated.

"Perfect!" Lizzy said, rubbing the kid's head gently. "That'll make you feel better for sure." He smiled warmly and hugged her waist tight. Keiza thought it was too cute and mouthed out to Lizzy,

"I wanna pinch him!"

"No!" Lizzy mouthed back. James chuckled softly and wrapped his arm around Keiza, walking away with her. There was a moment of silence between Lizzy and her young friend when the latter said, "Lizzy?"

"Hm?" she answered.

"When you make potions again, could I help you?"

"Sure thing! I'd love some help." Before this, no one had asked Lizzy for assistance with her alchemy. She thought it was because making potions were difficult to make and that she would make them late at night. But having someone wanting to help put her mind at ease of the thought.

"Hey, we're back!" William exclaimed, opening the front door. "And we have food!"

"Sweet!" Lizzy smiled, turning to little Yusei. "Let's get food." The boy nodded and they went to get something to eat.


	18. Chapter 18

Lizzy unlocked the potion cupboard and got out a few bottles of liquid. She took a deep breath and told herself, "All right, you can do this. Just take it one step at a time."

"Are you okay?" little Yusei asked.

"Yeah...I think I'll be fine for now." A few days passed since the boy asked if he could help her make potions. The reason why this occurred was because Lizzy had no idea what to do. There were different types of potions to make but the one that she wanted to make she was unsure of. Every time she tried to make the antidote potion, she failed each time with no hope. But ever since the day she talked to William and Ryan, she began to think of how she didn't fulfill her duty as a normal, empathetic girl. She sighed a bit and said, "When I was your age, my love and empathy showed through my magic. It was how I helped people as a child. But when I grew, I learned that my love should be shown through protection, and through that protection there had to be countless hours of training to prove myself worthy. It seems I forgot my original intentions after all this time."

"What was it?" the boy said curiously.

"It was love and to be loved," Lizzy smiled. "You and the others were lucky to have love all around you. James and I weren't so lucky."

"Why is that?"

"Well James' parents hit him a lot when he was younger and not many people liked me for some reason."

"Oh okay...is the potion ready yet?" To this question, Lizzy laughed,

"Of course not, silly! I'm still getting everything together to make it."

"I thought you were done already."

"Nope! It takes time, my little friend. Speaking of time..." Lizzy popped open two bottles and poured it into a bowl, making a hissing sound as the liquids entered the container. "It's time to mix these two together for a little while!"

"Could I do it?"

"Sure! As long as you can reach the counter." Little Yusei puffed out his cheeks and exclaimed,

"I can reach it!"

"Then show me." The boy nodded and began to mix the bowl with a wooden spoon, standing on his toes to reach the counter. Lizzy smiled and got some other potion bottles out and began to mix them into the bowl. "You're doing awesome, buddy! Just keep mixing and it'll be done in no time. Little Yusei smiled and kept mixing the ingredients in the bowl. The bowl's liquid was changing colors drastically until it turned to a translucent color.

"Whoa," the boy said in awe. "What happened?"

"It's magic!" Lizzy exclaimed. "Almost anything can happen. Whenever I mix certain ingredients together, it creates a particular hue. But this is gonna be a special type of potion, so it doesn't have a color until I add a potion I made beforehand."

"What potion is that?" Lizzy grabbed a potion of a familiar green color and placed it on the counter. That potion was the same one that made her friends turn into kids, filled up all the way with new liquid in it.

"This is the one that we're going to add in our little concoction!" the girl said with a smile. "All we have to do is add a few drops and it will change color immediately."

"Wait a minute!" William said, coming into the kitchen quickly. "Did you add the buffer?"

"A what?" the young boy responded.

"A buffer! It allows the potion to not turn salty or acidy when someone drinks it. It's a way to not have an upset stomach."

"You actually know chemistry?!" Lizzy said in shock.

"Of course I do!" William answered. "Why wouldn't I know of chemistry?"

"You barely pay attention in classes...in general."

"Well, sometimes I do pay attention. You just don't see it."

"What does the buffer look like?" little Yusei asked, looking at the cupboard.

"It's a whitish clear color," William said, thinking a bit. "I'm sure it's in the cabinet somewhere."

"I got you covered!" Lizzy grinned with a little wink, holding the bottle in her hand. She opened it and added a few drops into the developing potion. "All right, it doesn't need to be mixed anymore so we just need to put in the other potion."

"Go for it!" William said. The alchemist nodded and opened the bottle.

"Please," she thought aloud with hope, almost in prayer. "Please let this work so that Jack, Crow, and Yusei can return to normal. These three are important to my friends and I, and to this world. We need them here, although they stand before us as children. It's just not the same."

"I agree," a thought said in her mind. Lizzy's eyes widened quite a bit, knowing that voice.

"William, don't invade on other people's thoughts like that!" she thought.

"I'm sorry but you were thinking too loudly! When you're a magician and you think too loud, other magicians can hear you too."

"Right...was my speech thought a lot for something like this?"

"No, it was great! I think the group would agree with you. I honestly miss going to the warehouse throughout the day and when we would hang out here. But I also enjoyed our time now." Lizzy smiled to herself, thinking of the past month's events. She enjoyed having kids in the house to brighten up the day. However, the time has come to return the kids to their normal state. As she thought of how everything has taken place, a happy tear fell from her eyes and into the unmade potion.

"Lizzy?" little Yusei asked, tugging her shirt. Lizzy snapped back into reality and said,

"I'm sorry, did I blank out?"

"A little bit...will you be okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine now! Now let's get the potion in the bowl." The girl poured all of the potion into the bowl and let her young friend mix it all together. "After it's all mixed together, we have to wait for a few minutes and see the results!"

"What color is it supposed to be?" William asked, looking at the liquid.

"Red!" Lizzy said. "A bright red color. Red and green are complementary colors so it would make sense."

"That doesn't make sense at all." Lizzy sighed and went on her phone, trying to find something that had to do with colors. William and little Yusei watched her, wondering what she was doing to make her point. She finally found a color wheel and pointed at red and green.

"Red and green are on opposite sides of the little wheel," the girl explained. "That means they can work well with each other in a drawing or painting because of contrast. Contrast is basically bright colors competing against each other. Does everyone understand now?"

"Yup!" the little boy answered.

"You paid attention in art class too much," William mentioned.

"But I like art!" Lizzy protested. "It's almost as awesome as reading a book."

"Almost?"

"...Yeah."

"You're a weird girl."

"Well, you're a weird guy!" As the two argued and the young boy laughed at their argument, the potion in the bowl was beginning to turn into a different color. The color swirled around the translucent hue until it turned into the new color, a bold crimson hue.


	19. Chapter 19

"Oh my goodness, we did it!" Lizzy said in shock, looking at the new potion. "I can't believe it." After the color came out, she put the new concoction in its own bottle and showed it to everyone.

"Yay!" Keiza exclaimed, clapping.

"Woohoo!" Ryan said. "That means you can use your magic again."

"Yup!" Lizzy grinned. "It also means something else: it means the antidote has been made."

"WHAT?!" everyone, except for William, shouted.

"What antidote?" little Crow asked.

"It's a potion to reverse the effects of another potion," Ian explained.

"Does that mean we're going back to normal?"

"I think so! Is that what it means, Lizzy?" The girl nodded happily and said to the three kids,

"Now you have the ability to be older whenever you feel ready to."

"Can I not grow up?" little Crow asked.

"I don't think you can avoid it, my friend," Dylan chuckled. "Even if you don't drink the antidote, you're still gonna grow up. It'll just take more time."

"Aww!" The group laughed with a smile. James looked around him and felt content. Finding his friends happy was enough for him to be happy. He cleared his throat and said,

"Let's go to sleep for the night, everyone. It's already late." They agreed and decided to go upstairs to their rooms. But before everyone went up, the door struck with long banging. James quickly answered the door and Akiza was on the other side, panting heavily.

"Hey, is something wrong?" he asked her. "You look pretty pale."

"He came back!" Akiza exclaimed in between deep breaths. "The man we met at the mall..he came back."

"How?!"

"I don't know but he's trying to get in the warehouse. Luna and Leo are distracting him while I was coming here. We have to hurry!"

"Right!" James ran up the staircase and yelled, "We got trouble at the warehouse! We have to go there now!" Everyone else immediately changed up, because they were getting ready for bed, and ran down the stairs.

"How bad is it?" William asked James, getting his shoes on.

"That guy from the mall is back and is at the warehouse," James elaborated quickly.

"What, he's back for more?!"

"Yup!"

"I hate that guy!" Ryan shouted. "Let's go make him pay!"

"Are we coming too?" little Jack asked.

"Yes," James answered. "We don't want to leave you, Crow, and Yusei by yourselves since everyone is going."

"Let's hit the road, guys," Lizzy announced. "We don't want to keep Luna and Leo waiting. They may be running out of ideas." Everyone agreed and headed out on runners or other vehicles that they had.

~Meanwhile~

"Um, any other ideas?" Luna asked, quivering.

"I can't think of any!" Leo admitted. "But we have to keep him occupied!"

"So that your little friends can save you?" the evil man cackled. "Nice try! They will never arrive in time. I will bring destruction to this...what is this place?"

"It's a warehouse, creep!" Leo yelled.

"Whatever it is," the man said. "I will get inside there!"

"No you won't! You'll never get in!" The man growled and saw a few runners out in the distance. The runners halted near the warehouse and the riders got off and ran to Leo and Luna's side.

"Why must you be pests to me?" the man asked loudly, putting his hand on his face. "Practically thorns at my side!"

"Well, you keep messing with our friends!" Aaliyah retorted. "Why do you do this anyway?!"

"I have already told you! I will rewrite the present and future by taking away your little friends!"

"Why would anyone want to do that?!"

"So that the world can finally see the consequences of forgetting their people."

"Eh?" everyone else said. The evil man never mentioned about this, so it was new information to them.

"Fine!" the man growled in frustration. "Since you have no recollection of what I'm talking about, perhaps I must make a formal introduction."

"We don't need an intro!" Ryan said. "We just want to know why you're doing this."

"Ugh...does the name Wasure sound familiar to you?"

"Wasure?" James repeated. "I think I've heard of it before."

"Wasure used to be a small seaside town that had people go back and forth from the sea. Does that ring a bell to any of you?"

"Now it does!" Keiza gasped. "It's the place seafarers lived before moving to Yuina!"

"That's right!" the man exclaimed. "And I, Zargan, am the last of the town. The townsfolk thought that after discovering Yuina that the seafarers would come back to Wasure. But they never came back...and the people eventually went inland, never to return to the sea again! And so I decided to set out for Yuina myself, wanting revenge, until I came across here. This city is one of the hidden ports that lets to Yuina."

"So why not go there instead of messing with time here?" Lizzy asked.

"I want your people to come here and then it will be my moment to destroy Yuina!" Zargan cackled. "If they see that the flow of time is disrupted, they will have to come and fix it."

"So you're using this city as bait to get to another city?!" James shouted. "That's messed up!"

"Oh, I'm aware of that. I don't care what happens to New Domino City. All I care about is getting my revenge on your people." William furrowed his eyebrows, wondering if that man was saying the truth or not. He thought that it couldn't be the only reason why he would do something like this but shrugged off the thought.

"Okay, that's enough!" Lizzy yelled in anger, clenching her fists. "I see what you're trying to do and we're not gonna let that happen, you got it?"

"Yeah, we'll beat you up!" Ryan said in agreement, pounding his knuckles together. Zargan laughed evilly and said,

"If that's the case, then I guess we will have to battle since our beliefs conflict. What do you say?"

"Bring it on, dude!" William said. "I'm totally ready to beat you again."

"Do you really think I want to go against you again after the humiliation I received last time?! I'm not stupid, boy. However, there is one person that I would love to fight." He looked at Lizzy, pointing her out from the small crowd. Lizzy sighed and said,

"You want me, don't you?"

"I find you interesting, kid," Zargan admitted. "And the fact that you're a magician makes it more interesting. But if you are as weak as you were last time, there won't be much entertainment for me!"

"What kind of bad guy are you?" Leo asked. "Are you just trying to lure her in?"

"I'm in the mood for fighting, little boy. It lets me take out my anger, especially since your friends are from the very island I hate! After dealing with you, I will rip your little city apart!"

"Let's do it then!" Lizzy said with a small smile. "I'm ready this time."


	20. Chapter 20

"Are you sure about this?" William whispered to Lizzy. "You didn't make it last time."

'"I think I'll be okay," she answered quietly. "If I can beat Zargon in a fight, he'll probably leave us alone."

"You sure?"

"No, but I don't have any other ideas."

"Okay...just be careful. We don't need you to get hurt."

"You got it, buddy!" The two touched foreheads briefly, and fist bumped. Lizzy looked at Zargon and started to walk towards him, only to be stopped by little Jack, Crow, and Yusei. The girl chuckled a bit and said,

"I have to do this, you three. Zargon wants me, not anyone else."

"If it were anyone else, we'd do the same thing," little Jack said plainly. "We're not losing our friends again." The other two kids nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry; I'll be okay. I'm more confident than last time, and my magic power returned. It will be just fine."

"No, don't go!" little Yusei cried desperately, gripping Lizzy's hand. Lizzy glanced at the three and soon at Zargon, who somehow was waiting patiently for her. She didn't want her young friends to worry, but the evil man would hurt everyone she cared for, which included the kids. The girl knelt down and placed her free hand underneath little Yusei's hand, smiling.

"It'll be all right, my friend. Trust me." The young boy stared at her, not knowing what else he could do except let her go. He bit his lip and let go of Lizzy's hand sadly. "Don't be sad, Yusei. I'll be back before you know it!" He nodded with a smile as the other two boys did too. Lizzy stood back up and walked to Zargon.

"Are you finally ready for your demise?" the man asked.

"Nope," Lizzy said honestly. "However, I'm ready to take you down!"

"Let's see what you got!" Zargon held out his hands, and it began to glow with purple and black hues, showing his dark power quickly. Lizzy was surprised and remembered how dim and slow her magic came out last time. She bit her lip a tiny bit but kept her cool, setting herself up in a simple stance with her hands held out to "collect" the magic. Lizzy closed her eyes and began to concentrate, not thinking of anything else except to reach out for her power. The bright yellow color that she was looking for glowed inside of her palms, growing with each breath she takes. Zargon's eyes widened as he wanted to get the same glow she was getting. So he began to concentrate on his magic too, and soon it was a competition to see who can show off their magic the most. The group just kept watching, surprised that an actual fight hasn't happened yet. Lizzy finally opened her eyes and smiled confidently. Her eye hue was like the sun's rays, the exact color of the magic she held in her hands. "No," Zargon said in shock. "How is that possible?!"

"Looks like my magic came to me after all," Lizzy grinned. "Now it is time for the real battle to begin!" She made a small ball of magic in her right hand and threw it towards Zargon with full force. The man easily dodged it and created his dark magic sphere. However, it was a larger sphere than Lizzy's, and he threw it as fast as he could towards the girl. Lizzy narrowed her eyes and caught the thrown ball and hurled it towards the sky, letting it disappear. Zargon gritted his teeth and said,

"Not bad, kid. Is that all you got?" Lizzy shook her head and asked,

"How about you?"

"I'm just getting started!" The man summoned a small black staff with a dark blue orb circling the top of the staff. He began to chant words in an unknown language, and the staff's orb grew larger as he chanted. Lizzy wasn't too surprised because magicians have the ability to do this, but her friends were shocked.

"Okay, what is that guy doing?!" Aaliyah asked loudly. "It doesn't make sense!"

"Of course not!" Lizzy said. "That's because the only magicians you've seen are me, William, and Melody. We don't do that."

"I know I don't!" William agreed. As the man chanted, the magic he drew from the staff started to take shape into a creature, changing forms as the process went on. Lizzy got a bit closer and saw that she didn't recognize the monster at all. However, everyone else did.

"Uh, what's that?" Lizzy asked the group, who were backing away from the fight.

"That's one of his Duel Monsters!" James answered. "That's Tragoedia!"

"...eh? You mean to tell me that Zargon's magical ability is to summon his mons-" She was interrupted by a huge roar. Lizzy turned back to her opponent and saw the huge spider-like monster, and her eyes widened. She didn't remember seeing this monster before and thought, "Okay, this is new..I don't think I've been in this situation before."

"Hahaha!" Zargon yelled. "Didn't see that coming, did you? This is my unique ability: I can bring any of my Duel Monsters into battle and make it fight alongside me."

"Make it?" Lizzy repeated. "You're not forcing your monster to do this, are you? Monsters have minds of their own too."

"The only thing that the monster has in its mind is to obey its master," her opponent said. "That is all it needs to even think about!"

"Really now? Would you like me to show you?"

"Heh, if you can even try!"

"Oh, I bet I can!" Lizzy got out her duel disk and activated it, determined to show him what she was talking about. "Luna, could you help me out?" The young girl nodded and ran over to Lizzy's side.

"What do you need?" Luna asked.

"Could I tap into your ability to talk to Duel Monster spirits?"

"O-Of course! But how are you going to do that?"

"I'm a magician like that guy in front of me; there's a lot of things we magicians can do. I need you to touch my arm when I tell you to. Can you do that for me, please?"

"Ok!" Lizzy smiled at Luna and concentrated on forming magic in the palm of her hands. She took a few deep breaths and put the magic she created in her right palm, letting it spread out until it surfaced her entire right hand. She then placed two fingers on the first card in the deck and said,

"Do it now, Luna!" The girl nodded and touched her arm in that instant. Zargon realized what Lizzy was doing and ordered Tragoedia to attack her and Luna. The monster obeyed and was about to strike the two until a bright light shone from Lizzy's duel disk, and a girl with white wings came out of the disk, hitting the monster. Lizzy grinned happily and exclaimed,

"Tragoedia, meet my Synchro Monster: Splendid Magiciar, Arista!. Arista, meet Tragoedia." Lizzy's monster narrowed her eyes at the opponent's monster and said,

"My, my, this is interesting. Was this summoned by magic alone, Mistress?"

"Y-Yup!" Lizzy exclaimed, surprised that Arista was talking to her. "You don't have to call me Mistress; Lizzy is just fine."

"Very well, Mistress Lizzy. I will attack when you give the order."

"Uh...go on ahead and attack then!" Arista nodded and proceeded to use her magic to attack Tragoedia. "How do you do this all the time?" Lizzy whispered to Luna.

"You'll get used to it," Luna giggled with a smile.

"Grrrrr," Zargon said. "Why must you get in my way?!"

"Because you're hurting my friends," Lizzy said with crossed arms. "I suggest you go away before your monster gets hurt," Zargon yelled in anger and immediately disappeared, along with the monster.

"You are impressive, kid," Zargon said after withdrawing. "I will have to be more prepared next time."


	21. Chapter 21

"You gotta be kidding me!" Lizzy yelled, looking around quickly. "Did he just leave?! Come back here and fight!"

"It seems like he's just testing your skills," Akiza noted. "But why would he just leave during a battle?"

"Yeah, I've never seen a bad guy do something like that," Leo agreed. "That's weird." Lizzy groaned and said,

"If he comes back and does harm one more time, he will definitely pay!"

"But for now, let's just go home," Dylan said with a sweatdrop. "He won't be back for awhile."

"I think we should too," William began, "but..." He turned to little Jack, Yusei, and Crow, who were staring at the warehouse. Aaliyah knelt down near the three and asked,

"What are you guys doing?"

"That place," little Jack began, pointing at the warehouse, "Can we go inside and see it?"

"Well if you want to, I don't see why not!" She turned to everyone else to get their opinion, and they nodded in agreement. They thought it was time for the three to know where they lived before this incident. The young boys ran into the warehouse with everyone else following slowly.

"Are you guys sure that this is a good idea?" Ryan asked the group.

"It'll be okay," Keiza reassured. "I don't think they'll mind it, as long as they don't break anything."

"Speaking of which, let's go see if they indeed broke something," James announced, walking to the warehouse door quickly. He opened the door and heard laughter in the large gray room. He hurried to the three kids and noticed that they were playing on their individual Duel runners, pretending to be Turbo Duelists. James laughed quite a bit and beckoned everyone else to come into the room. The group did and watched in amazement as the three boys played.

"Should we tell them that they're playing on their runners?" Keiza whispered to everyone.

"No," Lizzy answered. "They would probably stop playing."

"And that's bad?"

"Yes because they look so adorable!"

"...that's kind of true." The guys in the room sighed, some of them even facepalmed. Lizzy giggled with a smile, still watching the kids play. The others looked around the warehouse and saw that it was a bit worn down, besides the runners itself. William decided to lay down on the couch that was near the stairs and sighed.

"Man, this brings so many memories," he said with a smile.

"You mean you've been here before?" little Crow questioned.

"Yeah! It was a lot of fun."

"Honestly, I've only been here a few times," Lizzy admitted. "And that was only because of a few errands. But now I'm gonna have a good excuse to come here more often."

"Cool!" little Crow grinned. He continued to play on the runner, not knowing that it's his, with a playful smile. The entire group was silent for awhile, watching the three play around. They didn't know what else to do so they resorted to doing nothing. Aaliyah looked around a bit and saw that a computer was on a desk. She went over to the desk and saw a picture beside the computer. She picked it up and smiled, seeing everyone that she knew in the frame. William went over to her and asked,

"Whatcha looking at, Ali?"

"A picture of all of us," Aaliyah answered, holding it to him.

"Oh wow, there we are! I actually don't remember this."

"What are you two doing?" Akiza said. Aaliyah and William showed her the pic, and she laughed. "I remember this! This was after a tournament our team won."

"Wait, I remember now!" William realized. "We were screaming like crazy for you guys to win."

"Yeah, you were screaming the most," Ryan said with a tease.

"Shut up!" The entire group laughed at William's quick comment. The three young boys got off of the runners and ran around the warehouse for fun until they came across a small picture of their adult selves. Their little eyes widened, and they looked at the others, and then at the picture again.

"Was that us?" little Yusei said in shock.

"I have a lot of Markers," little Crow noted.

"I look cool," little Jack said with a smile.

"No, you don't! You look funny."

"I don't look funny!"

"Yes, you do!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Well, I think you all look funny!" Lizzy exclaimed, standing right behind them. The kids turned to her and laughed. "So what do you think of yourselves in that pic?"

"We are waaaaaay bigger in that photo!" little Crow shouted. "Is that actually us?"

"Yeah! That's what you three looked like when the others and I first met you."

"Whoa," the kids said in awe. Lizzy chuckled and kept staring at the photo, still wondering what to do next. She stared up at the ceiling, and her mind turned blank until she heard someone yelling her name. Lizzy snapped back into reality and saw the three kids watching her intently.

"What's wrong, little friends?" she asked curiously.

"We can turn back to normal now, right?" little Jack said.

"Of course! I got the antidote ready so you three are ready to go. But the real question is if you want to return to your usual selves."

"I want to!" little Yusei said.

"So do I," little Jack agreed with a smile.

"Me too!" little Crow grinned.

"Wow!" Lizzy said with widened eyes. "Why do you all want to turn back so soon?"

"So that everything can go back to the way it was," one of three answered.

"Oh, I don't think things will ever be the same. We've grown pretty close to you three this past month and a half, and that's impressive considering my friends and I have been with your company for almost seven months now. But I wouldn't change anything, not one bit."

"Even though it was clearly an accident?" Leo noted to Lizzy, listening to the conversation. "Why would you say that you wouldn't change a thing?"

"Because I've seen something in a different perspective," Lizzy explained, "and when you saw it and been through it in a way you've never thought would be possible, it changes your mind and heart. It reminds me of why my friends and I are still here: to see the world in ways we could have never seen if we were in Yuina. I'm more content being here, learning about the people and seeing them live, than being home. What a strange feeling.."

"That's why it's an adventure, Lizzy!" Keiza smiled. "Whatever happens in an adventure can change you for the rest of your life. I honestly don't mind being here either."

"Same here!" William exclaimed. "This has been a blast. I wouldn't have had it any other way."

"You guys are too kind," Akiza smiled with tearful eyes. "But I think it's time for one of our adventures to end." The group agreed and prepared themselves to get Yusei, Crow, and Jack back to normal.


	22. Chapter 22

Lizzy poured out the red antidote she created into three small cups, confident that the concoction made would certainly bring the incident to an end. Akiza, Leo, and Luna left the warehouse earlier, trusting that the others will do the job. She gave two of the cups to James and Aaliyah, saying,

"This should do the trick! Are they in bed now?"

"Just about," James answered. "All that's needed is the potions and they'll be knocked out."

"I'm really gonna miss them as kids," Aaliyah said with a sigh. "They were so cute."

"Ali," Lizzy began, putting her hand on Aaliyah's shoulder, all you have to do is befriend a small child and I'm sure you will be satisfied with cuteness for awhile." Aaliyah laughed and walked off to where Crow's room was.

"I'm going off to Jack," James said. "You wanna come?"

"Nah, it's okay!" Lizzy grinned. "I have a little friend that likes to sleep on the couch for some reason." She looked over at little Yusei, who was getting under the blanket. "You guys go on ahead and let them drink the potion. James nodded and was off to where Jack was sleeping.

"Okay little man, are you ready?" Aaliyah asked. "Once you drink this, there's no going back...or at least I think."

"I'm ready!" little Crow smiled.

"Just remember us when you get to the other side, okay?" William said, sitting on the bed next to Crow.

"What do you mean? I'll remember you guys!"

"I think he means remembering us in a way that involves this incident," Ian said, trying to explain it as best as he could.

"Oh okay!" little Crow said. "Could I do one more thing before I drink it?"

"Sure, what is it?" The young boy got out of the bed covers to hug Aaliyah, William, and Ian. The three were surprised but hugged him back happily. Little Crow got back under the covers as Aaliyah handed him the cup. The boy drank the elixir and was out in seconds.

"Will it hurt?" little Jack asked, looking at the cup in James' hand.

"The potion?" James said. "Oh, it won't hurt a bit! After you drink it, you'll be sound asleep. There's no pain whatsoever."

"Yup!" Ryan grinned. "It'll happen as fast as a deer!"

"A deer?" Keiza repeated. "Really, Ryan?"

"It's the only analogy I could come up with! I'm not that smart like you guys."

"Okay, relax guys," James said with a chuckle. "I think you're scaring-" He grunted and held the cup tight, hoping that it won't spill. The reason why he grunted was because Jack suddenly wrapped his arms around James, hugging him tight. James looked at the boy and smiled, hugging back gently.

"Thanks," little Jack said softly.

"For what?"

"For being with us for over a month."

"You're welcome, buddy!"

"Group hug time!" Ryan exclaimed, hugging James in the process. Keiza giggled and joined the hug too.

"G-Guys, that's too tight!" James said, still holding out the potion but it was getting close to the boy. "Get out of the hug, please!" But Keiza and Ryan didn't for a few seconds, and when they did James noticed that the cup that was in his hand was gone. He quickly looked at Jack and found that the boy drank what was in the cup and fell back on the bed, barely holding onto the cup.

"Do you think that was faster than a deer?" Ryan asked, seeing Jack knocked out already.

"Probably," James replied.

"Buddy, all you have to do is drink the potion," Dylan began to say to little Yusei, " and you'll be back to normal."

"Yup, it's that simple!" Lizzy smiled with a wink. The child looked at the cup in his hand and swirled the potion around a little, thinking. Lizzy could tell that something was bothering him so she asked, "What's on your mind, my friend?"

"When I go back to normal," little Yusei began, "will I remember any of this?"

"Oh, thats a tough question," Lizzy replied. "I...I honestly don't know. I can't think of any instances where a person would remember something like this after they return to normal, not even the books I've read say anything." The boy sighed in disappointment and kept staring at the cup, wondering what will happen next. "But if it's something that brought a change inside your heart," Lizzy said. "I'm sure you can remember it somehow."

"How?" little Yusei asked. "Will my mind go crazy if I try to remember?"

"Yusei, it's not a memory that can come from the mind. It's more of a heart memory."

"Yeah, it comes from right here!" Dylan exclaimed, poking the left side of the child's chest. "And if you're lucky, your heart will do things like this!" He started to tickle the boy, who laughed happily. Lizzy rolled her eyes playfully and giggled. "Ready to take the potion now?" Dylan asked the boy.  
"I guess," the boy said. "But what if I get bad dreams again? What am I supposed to do?"

"Uh..."

"I got this," Lizzy said. "Remember when you had my teddy? Well, just pretend that it's right there beside you."

"But that's hard!" little Yusei protested. "And you guys are leaving too! I don't want you to leave!"

"Oh, I see what's going on," Dylan said, sitting next to the boy on the couch. "You've grown very attached to us, right?" The boy nodded slowly, not exactly wanting to admit that. Lizzy smiled warmly and stated,

"There's no place in the world where we won't be with you. Even though we aren't there physically, we'll be if you remember us. You can do that, right?" Little Yusei merely nodded and hugged Lizzy tight. The girl hugged back just as tight and Dylan joined in the hug. Lizzy and Dylan let go but the little boy didn't. In fact, the boy touched both of their foreheads with his briefly before letting go. Dylan had a questioned look on his face as Lizzy's eyes widened.

"Keiza told me that when you're really close to someone, you touch foreheads with them sometimes," little Yusei explained. "Did I do it right?"

"Y-Yeah, you did!" Lizzy exclaimed with a small blush. "Are you ready now, my friend?"

"I am now." The boy drank the liquid in his cup and fell on the couch on his back, passed out.

"Wow, that was fast," Dylan noted. "Do you think they'll transform in a dramatic sort of way?"

"Not sure," Lizzy answered. "But let's get out of here before anything weird happens." Dylan agreed and went out of the warehouse with her. Everyone else soon went out of the building as well and traveled home, satisfied that their job was done.

 **I am so sorry, I forgot this chapter! This chapter is the original chapter 22. It seems like I skipped it and went straight over to the chapter 23. For those that read ''chapter 22'' already, I'm sorry! For those that are seeing this for the first time and didn't see my mistake, that's okay.**


	23. Chapter 23

Aaliyah and Lizzy were sitting on top of the roof, looking out into the horizon. The last time they did this was before the potion incident, which was about two months ago. Since the boys drank the antidote, everything had turned to back to normal except for a few aspects. The Yuina group hung out at the warehouse more with Yusei, Crow, Jack, and the others, and they went to their house more often than before the accident. Their friendship with one another intertwined into a closer bond, a bond that the Yuina kids didn't even think about. They were more open with each other and helped each other out whenever they could. This would most definitely be involved with going to each other's living spaces, and it happened to be one of those days. But before that, the two girls decided to enjoy the sunset and relax on top of the house.

"Could you believe it?" Lizzy said to her. "It's been more than half a year since we've arrived here. Time flies so fast."

"Yeah," Aaliyah said with a small sigh. "One day, we're actually gonna leave this place and go home."

'Eh, that can wait." To this response, Aaliyah turned to her friend in shock. All Lizzy said about Yuina was that she wanted to find a way home so that everyone can be safe. "You were right," Lizzy said, turning to Aaliyah. "You said that when the time comes, we will return to Yuina. I believe that aren't done here yet, and some of my most precious memories are here in New Domino City. So until we see the light out at sea that calls us home, let's stick around with our friends!"

"Yes!" Aaliyah exclaimed, happy with the decision Lizzy made. She hugged her with a huge grin, making Lizzy hug back tightly.

"I'm sorry to ruin the emotional moment, but there's food that needs to be eaten." The two girls looked down from the roof to see William saying that. "Come on down before they get here!" William yelled. "I don't want to see you two starve while Jack eats all the ramen!"

"We're coming!" Lizzy yelled back. She slowly went down the roof, letting Aaliyah follow her easily. William waited for them to come down and then Ryan came running outside.

"Guys, hurry up!" Ryan said. "We all have to be inside so that we can lock the door."

"Ryan, they aren't guests anymore," Aaliyah said. "We don't need to lock anything."

"I know that but I want to tease them." The three sweatdropped at Ryan until they saw four runners off on the horizon. "Get in, everyone!" Ryan shouted. He shoved his three friends in the house quickly and locked the door, panting a bit. All that was heard from outside was that the four runners stopped making noise and Crow yelling,

"Aw, come on!"

"This is payback from this morning!" Ryan yelled through an open window. He laughed for a while till his eyes widened and he ran away from the window. Crow somehow got through the open window and into the house, chasing after Ryan. William, Aaliyah, and Lizzy were laughing the entire time, not paying attention to the constant knocking at the door. Finally, Ian ran to the door and opened it for Yusei, Jack, Akiza, Leo, and Luna.

"Sorry guys, these weirdos were laughing too hard to open the door," Ian explained, pointing at the three still laughing. Lizzy calmed down and said,

"Sorry! We weren't expecting Crow to jump through a window and chase Ryan in the house."

"I don't think we were either," Yusei admitted with a chuckle. "Is the food ready yet?"

"I think so! Will called us in so that's got to mean something."

"Then let's eat," Jack said. "I'm starving!"

"Be patient, everyone!" James yelled from the kitchen. "We're almost done!"

"You have to go faster!"

"I can't go faster, dude! Make the food cook faster." Jack then walked over to the kitchen, leaving the others very confused.

"Let's go do something else and not disturb...what just happened," Lizzy said. "Did anyone bring playing cards with them? And before anyone says anything, it's not Duel Monsters cards."

"I got some," Yusei said.

"Good! Now let's play a game with them!"

After the playing cards game and eating food, the entire group relaxed in the living room, mainly talking about the day. Some of them decided to just listen in on the conversation, content with not saying anything. Lizzy looked around her and sighed happily, content with what she saw. She closed her eyes and laid her back on the wall, because she was already sitting on the floor. She contemplated about how her life had led up to this point in time until she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and saw Yusei sitting next to her.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Honestly, yes," Lizzy smiled. "I haven't felt this content in a long time."

"That's good. I need to ask you something important."

"Okay, what is it?" He didn't respond. He only stood up and walked out of the room but before he did, Yusei gestured her to follow him. Lizzy nodded and stood to her feet, quickly following him. She kept following until she found him outside of the house, sitting on the front steps that went up to the building. She sat next to him silently, looking at him curiously. He seemed puzzled about something, and she can tell that from his face. "What's the matter?" Lizzy asked with concern.

"I've been having strange dreams lately," Yusei explained.

"Strange dreams? What are they?"

"I keep seeing you and the others in the dream, and for some reason you were all taller than me. Then I would have a dream with a strange guy and magic. I don't know why magic is in my dreams, but it's there..." Lizzy continued to listen to him as he went on about the dreams that he's been having, which revolved around the events that happened the previous two months. She smiled a little and thought,

"You do remember." She got out of her thoughts when she heard Yusei sigh.

"Maybe I'm just going crazy," he said.

"Trust me," Lizzy began, "you're not going crazy. I've had plenty of bizarre stuff happen to me and having dreams like that is at the bottom of the bizarre list. You're doing just fine." She patted his back, making him smile.

"You want to go driving for a bit?" Yusei asked. "I'm sure the others won't notice that we're gone."

"Ok!" Lizzy grinned. "I don't think they'll mind. Are we gonna take one runner or two?'

"I think one is fine. That way our friends won't notice easily."

"My, now that's sneaky! I didn't know you were like that."

"There are some things about me that you don't know yet."

"Yet? You mean I'm gonna find out soon?"

"Soon...but not right now." Yusei threw Lizzy a spare helmet he had and put his helmet on. The girl was about to put the helmet on when she noticed something peculiar in it. She reached in curiously and pulled out a lily flower from the helmet. The girl let out a small gasp and gently felt the flower with her fingertips.

"Clever man," she murmured with a chuckle. "I wonder why he put this in a helmet." Unfortunately, she didn't know where to put it since the flower was delicate. So she decided to hold onto it. She ran over to Yusei, only to be struck down by a dark lightning bolt and hearing an evil laugh in the background.


	24. Chapter 24

"Finally," a familiar voice exclaimed. "It took me long enough to find you!" Lizzy slowly stood to her feet, grunting in pain. She stared at the man owning the voice standing before her. It was Zargon again, but an unusual smirk was plastered on his face.

"Seems like you're having a fun time," Lizzy said. "But what's with your smirk? I haven't seen that before."

"I realized that during my time with you imbeciles, I have been completely unprepared to face you. So now that I've "powered up," I am now ready to fight on even ground!" The girl glared at Zargon and noticed something peculiar about his eyes. Usually, she wouldn't take someone's eyes into account in a battle but what she saw made her eyes widen in horror. Zargon's eyes were a bright yellow-orange. However, there were no black pupils as his face was scale-like and dark. What she thought right away was something that she couldn't believe, but it was the only possible answer to what he had done.

"You couldn't have...did you fuse yourself with a Duel Monster?!"

"Haha! It didn't take you long to notice. Now I can defeat you and rid of Yuina forever!" He laughed evilly and grabbed the girl, gripping her tight so that she couldn't move. He then threw her at a speechless Yusei and the two fell to the ground. At this time, everyone else came outside and stared at the new Zargon.

"Who are you?!" Jack demanded.

"How depressing that you don't recognize me," Zargon said. "But that doesn't matter now. I'm only here to defeat your dear friends so that I can take over their homeland."

"Hm, you do look kind of familiar," Crow noted, staring at Zargon, "I can't think where I've seen you though."

"Then think harder if you want to know how this all started!" Zargon made a small ball of shadow magic in his hand and used it to get ahold of Lizzy, lifting her to the air. She didn't get that far off the ground because Yusei snapped out of his thoughts and grabbed her arm. Lizzy, in turn, grabbed onto his arm so that she wouldn't let go. Zargon growled and made the sphere larger and stronger in power, making Lizzy fly higher. She groaned softly as her grip began to weaken and her hand slowly slipped out of her friend's arm.

"Oh, this ain't gonna happen!" William yelled. He ran over to Lizzy and gripped onto her other arm, helping Yusei. Jack and Crow joined in to keep the girl on the ground, making Zargon furious.

"I have dealt with you people twice already, and I will not allow any more failure!" He created another magic ball and threw at the boys holding Lizzy. William let go of Lizzy and created a blue magic barrier around him and his friends. He held his stance so that the barrier couldn't go away.

"Man, could you always do that?!" Crow said in shock. "Because I've never seen you do that before!"

"Yup!" William grinned. "Lizzy can too!" The girl nodded weakly and yelped quietly. Zargon's magic was entering her body, making her lose power fast. The evil man laughed mockingly at the girl.

"Is this the real power of a magician like you?" he exclaimed. "That is truly pathetic of your Yuinaian kind! Now you shall perish and take the blame of their downfall." Lizzy gasped at his words. One of her greatest fears of becoming a failure was coming true. She tried to hide that thought but her heart grew heavy and cold. She let go of her friend's grip on her, giving up on a long and weary fight that she battled all her life. Everyone else were in mere shock of what Lizzy had done, except for Keiza. Keiza didn't want her dear friend to give up so she ran inside and grabbed a bottle of water.

"What are you doing?" Akiza asked her.

"Something I should've thought of earlier!" Keiza exclaimed. She ran outside and twisted the bottle cap open. She bended the water out of the bottle swiftly and engulfed Zargon's hands with the water, forcing him to stop his magic power on Lizzy. Lizzy dropped to the ground immediately, panting heavily from all the magic taken out of her.

"Lizzy, are you okay?" William said in concern, kneeling down in front of her. "Say something, buddy!"

"It's no use!" Zargon smirked. "I can sense her power and spirit has weakened, maybe even broken from the words I have said. Her faults and failures have led her to this point. Sure you may have some encouragement, but her heart can never forget what she has done. It never will! I will finally-"

"Shut up already!" Jack bursted out, gritting his teeth. "You'll pay for what you did to our friend!" Yusei kneeled down beside Lizzy, looking at her sadly. The girl didn't speak or turned her head to him. She was silent, frozen in thought and pain. Yusei sighed and found a small bottle sticking out of her pocket. He grabbed it and his eyes widened.

"I've seen this before!" he gasped. "But where did I see this?"

"Oh, it's that bottle we found a few months ago, Yus!" Crow said. "But what's it doing in Lizzy's pocket?"

"I don't know. But I do remember drinking something from that bottle...and that's it."

"You mean you guys don't remember what happened after you drank it?" Akiza said. "You three stayed at our friend's house for practically two months!"

"Yeah!" Keiza said, doing her best to keep the bended water on Zargon's hands. "Don't you remember anything?" Yusei, Crow, and Jack glanced at each other in confusion and then shook their heads. They clearly had no idea what Keiza or Akiza was talking about. Lizzy finally spoke up with her hung head, saying,

"'If I drank one of your potions by accident, I wouldn't blame you.'...please tell me that sounds familiar to one of you."

"Um, a tiny bit," Yusei said, thinking quite a bit.

"How about an apology?" James said.

"For what?"

"For roping you guys in a situation like this...again."

"It's okay," Crow said. "Although I think you've said that before. We all tackled you in a hug for some reason."

"And then I think we played a game," Jack continued. "Or at least I think that's what happened." Zargon was getting seriously annoyed and yelled,

"I don't care if you don't remember! All I care about is defeated the Yuina children and taking away their little light magician!" Suddenly, a small memory flashed into Jack, Crow, and Yusei's mind.

 _"Light of Yuina?" little Crow repeated. "What's that supposed to mean?"_

 _"Yusei said it was a potion, Crow," little Jack said._

 _"Yup!" little Yusei exclaimed. "It's supposed to heal someone, no matter how deep the scar is. That's what Lizzy said. It also needs a lot of love for it to grow!"_

 _"That's cool but what does that have to do with us?"_

 _"Don't you think our friends are like that potion? That they can heal no matter what injury they have?"_

 _"I don't get it," little Crow said with a yawn. "But that sounds super cool."_

 _"You think too much," little Jack said to little Yusei. "But I believe that it makes sense to say that they're the Light of Yuina..."_

At that moment, the boys' memories of the entire incident returned. What they agreed on to be their 'Light of Yuina' brought the accident to the front of their minds and they glared intensely at Zargon.

 **I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and see you next chapter!**


	25. Chapter 25

Zargon's water chains broke, and Keiza fell to the ground, knowing that she did her best. The evil man glared at Lizzy and William and said,

"You two are not fit to remain in the work of magic. Begone!" He used his shadow magic and other power from his fusion with a Duel Monster to suck all of Lizzy and William's magical energy, and absorbed it into himself. The two screamed and collapsed, now unconscious from the loss of power.

"Will! Lizzy!" Aaliyah yelled in horror. "What did you do to them?!"

"I only removed any trace of magic in their bodies," Zargon explained quickly. "With their power, I can take Yuina by force." His hands turned into pure magic embodiments, a yellow hue on his right hand and a blue one on his left. "So, do you think you can stand against me now?! I hardly believe that you can!"

"Then how about a duel to settle this?" Yusei said furiously, standing to his feet. "We'll take you on!"

"I'm sorry, did I just hear 'we'?"

"Oh yes, he did!" Crow exclaimed, activating his duel disk. "You're not getting away with this so easily!" Jack and Yusei got their disks enabled too, and Zargon laughed, summoning his duel disk with magic.

"Fine!" he yelled. "Let's play this little game! It will be a great pleasure to bet you three before heading to the island."

"Go get him, guys!" Leo exclaimed.

"Beat him hard!" Ryan shouted with clutched fists. Yusei, Crow, and Jack nodded and began their duel with Zargon.

Lizzy and William groaned loudly and opened their eyes, not recognizing their surroundings.

"Now that's the last time I tell any bad guy I have powers," William said, rubbing the back of his head. "That hurt!"

"But where are we?" Lizzy asked. She stood up and saw her ace monster, Arista, standing before her.

"You are in the Duel Monster spirit world," Arista explained. "I was able to grab you before Zargon sucked away your magic entirely."

"So we're alive, yay! But why are we here?"

"You are here to learn the truth of Zargon."

"Yes, I knew something was up with him!" William said proudly.

"Yes," Arista said. "Your Horned White Beast has been investigating ever since your duel, William."

"Cool! Wait, my Horned White Beast?!"

"Why, yes. Speaking of which.." Arista turned to the deer-like Duel Monster with golden horns and tail with different weapons on it. William and Lizzy stared in awe of the creature, and it chuckled.

"I am surprised that you two do not faint at the sight of me talking," the creature said. "But that does not matter. What is important now is the man your friends are dueling at this moment. That man seeks revenge."

"Revenge on Yuina?" Lizzy guessed. "But what did we do?"

"When the people abandoned Wasure, Zargon wasn't alone," Arista explained. "He had a young son by his side. Zargon loved the boy dearly, so much that he let the boy go out to sea on a little boat and come back. But one day, the little boy didn't come back to Wasure, and Zargon assumed that his child went to Yuina instead of living with him. So now his hate has consumed him, and he wishes to take it out on you and the people of Yuina."

"What happened to the kid?" William asked.

"The child got caught in a storm coming back to Wasure," the Horned White Beast said. "He died out at sea."

"Oh man...is there a way that we can tell Zargon of this?"

"We can try, but he will not listen. His mind and reasoning are beyond our reach now since his hate for Yuina began many years ago. The one thing he can do is defeat him in a duel and seal him away."

"Seal him away?" Lizzy repeated. "As in a magic seal of some sort?"

"Yes," Arista answered with a nod. "But it must be with the Zargon chose to fuse with. Our poor friend is in need of rest and justice."

"Tragoedia did not want to fuse with its master, but it had no choice in the matter," the deer-like creature added. "All it wants now is peace from a fight that it has been a part of for a long time. Could you do that for us, you two?"

"Yeah!" William and Lizzy said in unison.

"Perfect!" Arista smiled. She suddenly held her head in pain and fell to the floor, groaning as she did so. "It seems your friends are in a bit of a bind," she said. "Zargon must have done something!"

"How do you know that?" William asked curiously.

"Arista can sense what goes on in the outside world," the White Horned Beast explained. "If something drastic has happened, she will receive that signal in her mind, causing what you people call a headache."

"We have to go do something!"

"I'm afraid you cannot leave this place until your magic has recovered completely. That is another reason why we brought you here."

"But what can we do?!" Lizzy exclaimed desperately, helping her ace monster off the ground. "We have to do something!"

"I agree," Arista said, recovering from her headache. "There is one thing you can do while you are in the spirit world."

"What's that?"

"You have to believe, believe with all your might that your friends can defeat Zargon. That way, your light can bring forth the courage they need to win the battle!"

"That sounds a bit corny, but I'm gonna give it a try," William admitted. Lizzy nodded and closed her eyes, wanting to concentrate on seeing if her encouragement can reach her friends.

"Come on, guys!" she thought. "You can't give up yet. You have to defeat Zargon. Please, I can't lose any of my friends...not again!"

"You can do it, guys!" William thought loudly, although he didn't close his eyes. "We're right beside you, in fact, everyone is! We all have faith in you!" As they pondered, a bright light surrounded Arista and the White Horned Beast, almost blinding William and making him shut his eyes fast. The light grew stronger as the two magician's thoughts were sent to the outside world.

"It is working!" Arista exclaimed, looking at her glowing figure. "Keep going, William and Lizzy." The two magicians did until the bright light ceased to exist and the two Duel Monsters didn't shine. William and Lizzy opened their eyes and looked around.

"You have done your part," Arista said with a smile. "Zargon is now defeated."

"I feel like I didn't do anything though," Lizzy said with a sigh.

"Although you were not there for the battle itself Mistress, what you and William offered to them was of great importance. Always remember that, you two. Now I must send you back swiftly to quickly seal Zargon. Good luck!"

"I...canot lose..." Zargon said weakly, falling to his knees. His duel disk disappeared in an instant as he stared at the ground. "I must...get my vengeance!"

"You won't be getting it anytime soon," Yusei said. "Now release our friends!"

"I'm afraid I can't. I only have your friend's powers..it doesn't mean you'll get them back."

"You jerk!" Crow yelled, clutching his fists. "Let our friends go!" Zargon laughed softly, not answering. Suddenly, Lizzy and William woke up and stood to their feet.

"What did we miss?" William asked everyone. "Did something important happen?"

"Well we were worried about you two," Jack answered, sighing in relief.

"Aww, you all were worried!" Lizzy said. "That makes me happy!"

"Lizzy, we have work to do," William mentioned. "Focus!"

"Right, sorry!" The two magicians faced Zargon and summoned their magic, surrounding the evil man with it. A sealing symbol appeared in the middle of the magic-made circle, and Zargon began to scream. Lizzy and William remained placid, and the former created a Duel Monster card from her magic. "Your monster has been waiting for you," Lizzy announced. "Now meet your fate with the one you have fused with!" She threw the card towards the man, and everything disappeared in a flash, except for the card on the ground. The entire group went over to where the card was, and one of them picked it up, revealing Zargon in the tiny frame.

"Wow, that was something," James said.

"It's what happens when a person fuses with a poorly treated monster," William concluded. "Zargon didn't know the consequences of that."

"Now let's go inside before anything else happens. I think we've had enough adventure for a few days."

"But before that," Yusei began, "I think the three of us need to tell you something important."

"We do?" Crow questioned.

"Yes, we do."

"What is it?" Keiza asked the three. Yusei took a deep breath and began to elaborate on how he remembers the incident that occurred a few months ago, letting Jack and Crow remember as well and agree with him.

 **All right, thanks for reading this chapter!**

 **I hope to see you for the final chapter of this book (for some reason I called it an epilogue. Forgot why I did that. XD).**


	26. Epilogue

"What?!" Aaliyah gasped. "You three remember everything?"

"Yup!" Crow grinned.

"And you're okay with that?"

"Yeah," Jack said with his arms crossed. "It feels a bit weird, but I'm fine with it."

"I honestly can say that our experiences helped us be closer together," James pointed out. "And it wasn't just the fact that we were in the same house for two months. I think it's more on the lines of taking care of each other, in a way. It helped see each other in ways that we didn't think of."

"Yup!" Lizzy agreed. "And I learned not to blame myself for mere accidents!"

"Please don't do that again," Keiza said to her. "You made us worry for a long time about that."

"I'll do my best, but I can't exactly promise that."

"Now that we had our little meeting, it's time for something I would never call for," William announced.

"Really?" James said in surprise. "What is it?" William smiled and gave his friend a hug. "Oh no, not this again! Someone stop this madness!"

"You have no choice!" Lizzy exclaimed, joining the hug. "You must suffer from hugs." Everyone else laughed and joined in too, making James groan quite a bit.

"Why must this always happen to me?!" James yelled. "And why did you join the hug, Jack?"

"I don't usually do hugs, but this is an exception," Jack admitted. After a long while, everyone decided to go inside with happy content. That was until Lizzy realized that she dropped her little flower during the commotion. She rushed back outside to look for it, glancing around the front of the house.

"What are you doing, Lizzy?" Yusei asked, walking out of the house. "Everyone else is inside already."

"I'm looking for something important!" Lizzy answered. Before her friend can ask what it was, she let out a gasp. Lizzy picked up the lily, which was unscathed and lovely in color. Its white and green figure remained the same as when she first found it in the helmet. "Okay, how is that even possible?" she asked loudly. "How does a flower like this not die after a big commotion happened?"

"It didn't?" Yusei said. Lizzy went up to him and showed him the lily. "Hm, a resilient flower."

"And a pretty one on that note!" the girl grinned.

"It reminds me of you." Lizzy's eyes widened a little as her face went red. She let her nonfeminine instincts take over and pouted with crossed arms,

"What on earth is that supposed to mean?!"

"So you won't take it as a compliment then?" Yusei assumed with a raised eyebrow. The girl was trying to keep her composure, but it was tough to do so.

"It just that...I...well...I don't know, ok?!," Lizzy exclaimed, about to burst. "It's a bizarre feeling to express. Besides, what else am I supposed to do with lily anyway?"

"What do you think you should do with it?"

"I honestly don't know! I'm not a typical girl, and you should know that by now!"

"I know. Could I see the lily?" Lizzy gave it to him, and he examined the flower. The girl calmed down and went a bit closer to him to see what he was looking at.

"Is something wrong?" Lizzy asked curiously. Her friend smiled and placed the lily on her ear quickly so that she wouldn't take it off immediately. Lizzy yelped a little and stared at him in surprise.

"I thought you would put it behind your ear or in your hair," Yusei explained with an extremely faint blush. "That's what most girls do." Lizzy turned extremely red from anger and embarrassment.

"I'M NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS, YOU IDIOT!" Lizzy yelled. She clutched her fists and began to chase Yusei around the yard. The boy immediately ran inside the house as everyone else laughed at the predicament.

 **Well, it looks like the story is done! Thank you so much for reading this entire thing. I'm grateful to be able to get this done because it's one of the few stories I've actually finished. XD**

 **If you want to comment on how the story was, go ahead! I don't mind constructive criticism but only constructive, please!**

 **Thank you, everyone for reading! :)**


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